Israeli Women-Led Initiatives Win Miss Fix the Universe Awards

Ten women-led social ventures in Israel have won awards at the 2026 Miss Fix the Universe competition. The awards were granted for their commitment towards increasing economic empowerment of women, creating job opportunities and tackling social hurdles. This year’s competition, organized by Israel Women’s Network and Bank Hapoalim and is focused on the ventures helping women to gain access to education and enter technology careers, among other things.

The recognition comes at a time when Israel is still recovering from the war after the attacks of October 7, 2023. These projects are aimed at enhancing opportunities for women in employment, education, entrepreneurship and funds. These initiatives play an increasingly important role within the framework of efforts to participate in the economy.

Key Highlights:

• Ten women-led initiatives win recognition for advancing women's economic independence in Israel
• Winners receive grants, professional mentoring and promotional support to expand their impact
• GameDevelopHer and other projects are opening technology career pathways for women

In the competition, many social entrepreneurs working on the challenges of finding solutions to economic disadvantages of women took part. The number of applications submitted by women social entrepreneurs was 233. More than 27,000 votes were collected during the voting procedure.

Apart from the financial grant, the selected social initiatives will get a year’s worth of mentorship and assistance in making videos that would increase awareness about their activities. Another prize for 5,000 shekels was awarded to the initiative that had the largest number of public votes, totaling the total amount of grants awarded to 305,000 shekels.

The fifth edition of this competition will highlight these social initiatives aimed at dealing with problems existing in society. This year’s theme of ‘Mending the Fragments’ brings into focus the economic and social difficulties faced by women due to almost four years of war and instability.

Speaking on behalf of Israel Women's Network, Tal Hochman, the CEO, talked about how national disasters can impact the economic standing of women. As the nation turns its gaze towards reconstruction and rehabilitation, it might ignore the economic difficulties faced by women.

A number of other identified projects target the involvement of women in technology in Israel, where with specific training and networks becoming an important factor affecting one’s career advancement. Such initiatives seek to lower barriers to entry for women and open up channels to the technology industry for them.

Over 170 women have been positively impacted by GameDevelopHer’s training program, which includes programming, technical skills, and portfolio building. As reported by the event organizers, many of the individuals who have graduated from the program have gotten hired within the gaming industry, illustrating the importance of this event in providing pathways to employment.

The network allows the participants connect to educational and vocational training programs, workshops, and job-related resources and connections. This in turn addresses challenges that many graduates face when trying to capitalzie their qualifications into work opportunities.