Something genuinely interesting is happening in Israeli politics ahead of the October 27 elections. Across the political map, parties are recruiting women, promoting women as candidates, talking about gender equality and, in some cases, building parity directly into their candidate lists.

That matters. Israel currently has only 31 women among 120 members of Knesset and has fallen below the global average for women’s parliamentary representation. Ahead of an election, the renewed attention to women in political life is therefore welcome.

But there is an important distinction between announcing women candidates and electing women to positions of power.

For those of us concerned with women’s equality, the standard has to be the same across the political spectrum. The question is not whether we agree with a particular party or candidate. It is whether women are represented, whether they are placed in realistic positions, whether parties have created mechanisms that make representation sustainable rather than symbolic, and ultimately whether women have meaningful access to political leadership

Women’s representation is suddenly trending

In good news, several parties have made conspicuous efforts to recruit women.

The Democrats adopted rules intended to create gender parity in their slate. Their July primary produced five women in the first ten positions: Naama Lazimi at No. 2, Efrat Rayten at No. 4, Gaby Lasky at No. 6, Michal Rozin at No. 8 and Somaya Bashir at No. 10. Party chairman Yair Golan remains at No. 1.  The Times of Israel reported on the primary results here, and the party had explicitly designed its primary rules to guarantee gender parity.

That matters. Five women in the first ten realistic positions is not accidental representation. It is representation built into the political mechanism.

Still, the person at No. 1 is a man.

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s joint Together list announced 17 women candidates. Among the women recruited are former senior public officials, business leaders and women with substantial professional and civic experience. The four latest additions are AI entrepreneur Orly Harel, a former Likud activist who founded the party’s Jerusalem women’s forum; Bruria Naim Arman, director general of Together, a public relations specialist who previously held senior positions in the Transportation and Deputy Defense ministries; attorney Esti Ayalon Kobo, former head of Israel’s Economic Mission in China; and businesswoman and philanthropist Olesia Kantor, a domestic violence survivor who founded initiatives supporting battered women and trauma survivors. Earlier additions included Keren Terner, former director general of both the Finance and Transportation ministries and the first woman to lead the Transportation Ministry, and Liran Avisar Ben-Horin, former director general of the Communications Ministry and former CEO of Masa Israel Journey, who was the first woman to head the Communications Ministry.  Bennett has also pledged that a government led by him would work toward women holding 50 percent of senior public-service positions within five years.

That is a substantial change in tone and numbers, and the focus on........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)