59. Michal Modai

100 Women of Influence

From Beauty Queen to Queen of WIZO!

A seventh generation Jerusalemite, Michal Modai was the second ever Miss Israel crowned in 1951. She joined WIZO Herzliyah Pituach in 1968 and was soon elected Chairman of the Branch. She married Yitzhak Modai, a prominent politician and had 3 children.

Michal moved up in the ranks of WIZO and was elected Chairman of WIZO Israel. Her concern was about the problems of border communities, the issues of recent immigrants, areas of poverty and domestic violence. She established the first WIZO shelters for battered women in 1983.

WIZO schools and youth villages needed upgrading and she persuaded the Ministries of Education and finance to contribute 50% of the operating costs. This was a real game changer!

In 1996 She became President of World WIZO and held it till 2004. As well as being on many other Agencies and Boards, WIZO was number one for her, winning the Prime Minister’s award for volunteerism and numerous other awards.

Beauty and brains….a winning combination!

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

100 Women of Influence

75 lisa kudrow

74. Lisa Kudrow

Lisa Kudrow is an American actor, best known for her role in the television sitcom ‘Friends.’ Her portrayal of ‘Phoebe Buffay’ in ‘Friends’ not only ...
Read More →
74 kate hudson

73. Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson is a talented actress, best-known for her role as ‘Penny Lane’ in the Hollywood movie ‘Almost Famous’ which earned her an ‘Academy Award’ ...
Read More →
72 gloria steinham2

72. Gloria Steinem

Gloria Marie Steinem was born in 1934, the daughter of Ruth and Leo Steinem. She is an American feminist journalist and social political activist who ...
Read More →
71 faye schulman

71. Faye Schulman

Faye Schulman (born 1919) is a Jewish partisan photographer, and the only such photographer to photograph their struggle in Eastern Europe during the Second World ...
Read More →
70 vitka kempner

70. Vitka Kempner

Vitka was born in 1920 in Poland to observant Jewish parents.  Vitka was 19 when the Germans invaded Poland and fled to Lithuania.  When Lithuania ...
Read More →
69 friedman betty

69. Betty Friedan

Bettye Naomi Goldstein was born in 1921 in Illinois to Harry and Miriam Goldstein, whose Jewish families came from Russia and Hungary.  Harry owned a ...
Read More →
68 rosalind franklin

68. Rosalind Elsie Franklin

Rosalind was an English Chemist and X-Ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA. Born in 1920 in ...
Read More →
67 safra catz

67. Safra Catz

An American billionaire banker and technology executive,Catz was born in Holon Israel but moved to USA at the age of 6.  She is married and ...
Read More →
66 elza levin

66. Elza Levin

A true WIZO woman, an Eshet Chayil, a woman who has given most of her adult life to a cause she has believed in so ...
Read More →
65 ali mcgraw

65. Elizabeth Alice McGraw

Ali was born in 1939 to a Jewish mother Frances, and father Richard McGraw. Her grandparents were emigrants from Budapest. McGraw’s mother chose not to ...
Read More →
judy carr

64. Judy Feld Carr

Nothing in Judy Feld Carr’s background would suggest that this Canadian woman would rescue more than 3500 Syrian Jews between 1975 and 2000. A mother ...
Read More →
63 deborah lipstadt

63. Deborah Lipstadt

Deborah was born in 1947 to Miriam and Erwin Lipstadt. She is an American historian and author and writes predominantly about Holocaust Denial and antisemitism ...
Read More →

Stay Connected With WIZO NSW