The work-life balance challenge is one issue raised in the wage-gap context. In an effort to bring gender equality to that area, the Finance Ministry launched a program earlier in the year which encourages fathers to exercise their parental rights; In this context, as of July civil servants may now perform overtime from home. This, against the backdrop of a study released by Israel’s Civil Service Commission showing that 64% of mothers are at home with their children during after-school hours as compared with 46% of fathers. According to the study, fathers who are inclined to leave work early but refrain from doing so generally fear perceived harm to their job status.