In what is described as a “minor revolution,” the results of next week’s Israeli elections may result in the increase of female representation in top political positions, the Associated Press (AP) reported Monday. While the number of women serving in the next Knesset isn’t likely to rise, “the number of women holding senior positions likely will.”
Israeli Elections Next Week Will Elevate More Women Into Senior Positions
A minor revolution is underway in Israel, with the female candidates catapulting to the top of party lists across the political spectrum ahead of the country’s March 17 election, setting them up to claim key positions of power in the next government like never before. …
Gideon Rahat, a professor of political science at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, said the strong showing for women in recent primaries follows a gradual rise in women’s participation in the Knesset since the late 1990s.
He said that while more established parties such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud have elected only three women into its ranks, with another two appointed, newer parties are bringing in more. The newly formed Kulanu, for instance, is one-third female. Two parties have women at the helm: Tzipi Livni from Hatnuah and Zehava Galon from Meretz.
In 2009, the Kadima party, then headed by Livni, received the highest number of seats, giving her the first opportunity to form the government. She failed to do so within the sixty days mandated by law, and Netanyahu was able to form the government.
Among the high-ranking politicians profiled by the AP are Stav Shaffir (Labor), Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home), Miri Regev (Likud), Orly Levi-Abekasis (Yisrael Beitenu) and former Labor party leader Shelly Yachimovich.
If the Zionist Union coalition, a partnership between Livni and Labor party leader Isaac Herzog, is able to form the next government, the power-sharing arrangement between them stipulates that Livni would rotate into the position of Prime Minister after two years. If this were to happen, she would be the first woman to lead Israel since Golda Meir in the 1970’s.
[Photo: Herzliya Conference / YouTube ]
Israeli Elections Next Week Will Elevate More Women Into Senior Positions
