The Role of Women in the State of Israel

To the question of whether a woman can hold public office, a definitive affirmative answer has been provided over the recent decades. Women are eligible for election to religious councils and can serve in all branches of the military. Under Israeli law, no employment vacancy advertisement may be addressed exclusively to one gender, and several political parties maintain guaranteed quotas for female candidates on their parliamentary and municipal lists.

Throughout the history of Israeli parliamentarianism, over one hundred women have served as members of the Knesset and have repeatedly held various leadership positions. More than twenty women have served as ministers and deputy ministers, some for multiple terms. In Israel's history, women have twice served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (Golda Meir and Tzipi Livni), three times have been elected President of the Supreme Court (Dorit Beinisch, Miriam Naor, Esther Hayut), and once each as Speaker of the Knesset and Acting President of the State (Dalia Itzik), and Prime Minister (Golda Meir). The first female Supreme Court Justice was Miriam Ben-Porat, appointed in 1977. Women have been elected to parliament from virtually all Israeli political parties, ranging from the far-left to the far-right, representing both the Jewish and Arab sectors. The only political parties to have had no female representation are the ultra-orthodox factions.

Despite numerous attempts, women have never succeeded in securing Knesset representation through exclusively female political parties. Under the leadership of feminist activist and former member of the 8th Knesset Marcia Freedman, a women's party failed to pass the electoral threshold in 1977. Similarly, in 1992, a newly established women's party received less than 0.1% of the vote, and in the 2015 elections, a newly formed party of religious women also failed to pass the electoral threshold.

The representation of women in academia is substantial. In 2001, women earned 57% of all academic degrees, and 46% of doctoral candidates were female. Numerous initiatives exist to encourage women to enter fields in which they have traditionally been underrepresented, such as the sciences. The prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science initiated a national program titled "Women in Science." Under this program, young women who have earned a Ph.D. with honors from Israeli universities and other higher education institutions are awarded an annual grant of approximately $20,000 for a duration of two years.

Israeli legislation safeguards the right of women to equal opportunities in the workplace. In 1964, a law was enacted requiring employers to provide equal pay to women for equal work, although researchers note that gender pay parity has yet to be fully achieved in practice.

In Israel, women are subject to military service. The status of women in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) underwent intensive changes during the 1990s. On November 8, 1995, the Supreme Court, in a three-to-two decision, ruled in favor of Alice Miller, who challenged the legality of the existing gender-based exclusion policy for candidates of the pilot training course. Alice Miller sought judicial intervention to secure this right. The Court granted the petition, ruling that the principle of gender equality supersedes considerations of expediency and optimal personnel utilization, which had previously served as the legal ground for denying women the right to serve as combat pilots.

In May 2015, based on evaluations by military medical personnel, the IDF command decided to exclude women from serving in tank units. Such service demands substantial physical strength and requires crews to spend long periods in confined spaces under significant physical and psychological strain (such as loading tank shells and repairing tracks), which can adversely affect the female body. Ultimately, following extensive public debate, the decision was reversed.

Concurrently, the military expanded the list of combat units open to female enlistees, including combat engineering units. The IDF reported that 90% of all military occupations are accessible to female conscripts, with approximately 5% of female service members opting for combat roles.

Dr. Haim Ben Yakov
Director General of the EAJC