How Many Women Have Served in the Israeli Cabinet?

The steady increase in the percentage of women in Israel's parliament has not been accompanied by a concomitant rise in their cabinet representation. In this article, IDI researcher Dr. Ofer Kenig argues that the new government that will be formed following the 2019 elections provides Israel with a golden opportunity to rectify this situation.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked | Flash 90

Introduction

In February 1969, Golda Meir was appointed fourth prime minister of the State of Israel, thus becoming one of the first women in the world to serve in her country’s highest political office. Despite this achievement, however, the inclusion of women in Israel's cabinets is far from impressive. During the first 26 years of the State (1948–1974), there was only one woman cabinet minister—Golda Meir, who later became prime minister, as noted; otherwise, the cabinet was entirely devoid of women. The next women to become cabinet ministers were Shulamit Aloni (1974), Sara Doron (1983), Shoshana Arbeli (1986), and Ora Namir (1992). Until 1995, after 47 years of Israel's independence, only five women had ever served in Israeli cabinets. Since 1996, the situation has improved, slightly, with thirteen additional women appointed as ministers (see Table 1). As of January 2019, only 18 of the 246 people who served as Israeli cabinet ministers in all of Israel's history—less than 7%—have been women.

 

Table 1: The 18 Women Who Served in Israeli Cabinet

	Year of First Appointment	Political Party
Golda Meir	1949	Mapai
Shulamit Aloni	1974	Ratz
Sarah Doron	1983	Likud
Shoshana Arbeli	1986	The Labor Alignment (Ma'arach)
Ora Namir	1992	Labor
Limor Livnat	1996	Likud-Gesher-Tzomet
Dalia Itzik	1999	One Israel
Yuli Tamir	1999	One Israel
Tzipi Livni	2001	Likud
Yehudit Naot	2003	Shinui
Ruhama Avraham	2007	Kadima
Sofa Landver	2009	Yisrael Beiteinu
Orit Noked	2011	Independence (Atzmaut)
Yael German	2013	Yesh Atid
Miri Regev	2015	Likud
Gila Gamliel	2015	Likud
Ayelet Shaked	2015	Jewish Home
Yifat Shasha-Biton	2019	Kulanu

The low level of women’s representation in Israeli cabinets becomes even more significant when we consider the nature of the portfolios assigned to women, the number of women who have served simultaneously in the same cabinet, and Israel’s place among other well-established democracies in this respect.

Which Portfolios Are Allocated to Women?

The allocation of executive portfolios to cabinet ministers is one of the central mechanisms in establishing governments in parliamentary democracies (Laver and Shepsle 1990). The power of a given party in the government is measured not only based on the number of portfolios but also the importance of the portfolios received. The same is true in assessing the power of women in a given cabinet: counting the number of women around the table is insufficient; we must also examine the importance of the portfolios that were assigned to them.

The importance of certain portfolios, of course, may vary from state to state or from one political system to another. According to Druckman and Warwick (2005), the most important ministries are Foreign Affairs, Finance, and the Interior. In the Israeli context, we should add Defense, in light of its high budget and high prestige. The second tier of portfolios comprises important economic ministries (e.g., Construction and Housing; Industry, Trade, and Labor; and Communications), budget-intensive ministries (e.g., Education, and Health), and the prestigious Ministry of Justice. In the third tier are the minor and less prestigious ministries such as Tourism, Immigrant Absorption, and the Environment. Ministers without portfolio are in the lowest tier.

Three of the four top-tier ministries have never been held by women: Finance, Defense, and Interior. While women’s absence from the Defense ministry could possibly be seen as “obvious,” it is surprising that Israel has never had a woman minister of finance or the interior. The only senior ministry ever headed by a woman is the foreign ministry. Golda Meir served as foreign minister in 1956–1966, and Tzipi Livni was Foreign Minister in 2006–2009.

In the second tier, women have been prominent in the Education Ministry, a realm that is often seen as "feminine." Three women served as education ministers: Shulamit Aloni (1992–1993), Limor Livnat (2001–2006), and Yuli Tamir (2006–2009). In other second tier ministries, women have served as ministers of Health (Shoshana Arbeli, Yael German), Justice (Tzipi Livni, Ayelet Shaked), and Communications (Shulamit Aloni, Limor Livnat, and Dalia Itzik). The third tier has had greater women’s representation (see Table 2).

 

Table 2: Career Paths for Women Cabinet Ministers

	Position 1	Position 2	Position 3	Position 4	Position 5
Golda Meir	1949-1956 Labor Minister	1956-1966 Foreign Affairs	1969-1974 Prime Minister
Shulamit Aloni	1974 Minister without Portfolio	1992-1993 Education and Culture	1993 Communications and Science	1993-1995 Communications	1995-1996 Communications, Science, and Arts
Sarah Doron	1983-1984 Minister without Portfolio
Shoshana Arbeli	1986-1988 Health
Ora Namir	1992 Environmental Protection	1993-1996 Labor and Welfare
Limor Livnat	1996-1999 Communications	2001-2003 Education	2003-2006 Education, Culture, and Sport	2009-2013 Culture and Sport
Dalia Itzik	1999-2001 Environmental Protection	2001-2002 Industry and Trade	2005 Communications
Yuli Tamir	1999-2001 Immigrant Absorption	2006-2009 Education
Tzipi Livni	2001 Regional Development	2001-2002 Minister without Portfolio	2002-2003 Agriculture	2003-2006* Immigrant Absorption	2006-2009 Foreign Affairs
Yehudit Naot	2003-2004 Environmental Protection
Ruhama Avraham	2007-2008 Minister without Portfolio	2008-2009 Tourism
Sofa Landver	2009-2013 Immigrant Absorption
Orit Noked	2011-2013 Agriculture
Yael German	2013-2014 Health
Miri Regev	2015-2019 Culture & Sport
Gila Gamliel	2015-2019 Social Equaltiy
Ayelet Shaked	2015-2019 Justice
Yifat Shasha-Biton	2015-2019 Housing

*During part of this period, Tzipi Livni was Minister of Justice and Minister of Construction and Housing at the same time.

How Many Women Have Served as Cabinet Ministers at Any Given Time?

Another analysis that demonstrates the marginality of women in the Israeli government examines how many women were in the cabinet at any given time. For example, at the time of its investiture (May 2015), Netanyahu’s fourth government included only three women out of 22 ministers. This is a rather low rate but is hardly unusual. In fact, at any given time, no more than four women have ever served in the same Israeli cabinet (Kenig and Barnea, 2009).

As mentioned above, until 1966, there was only one woman cabinet minister in Israel—Golda Meir. In 1974, with Meir’s resignation, Shulamit Aloni, the head of the Citizens’ Rights Party, was appointed minister without portfolio in Yitzhak Rabin’s first government. She resigned several months later, however, and the cabinet was left with no women’s representation. The absence of women in the cabinet persisted until after the political “upheaval” of 1977, and it was only in 1983 that Menachem Begin appointed Sara Doron as a minister without portfolio. This ended a period of nine consecutive years in which the cabinet included no women whatsoever.

Surprisingly, even the 1984 National Unity Government, which with 25 ministers was the largest government until its time, included no women. It was only in 1986 that Shoshana Arbeli joined the cabinet, and in 1988 it was left without women once again. The 1992 upheaval led to a precedent: For the first time in history, Yitzhak Rabin’s second government included— two women cabinet ministers: Shulamit Aloni and Ora Namir. Another precedent emerged in March 2001, when Ariel Sharon’s first cabinet included, for the first time, three women: Dalia Itzik, Limor Livnat, and Tzipi Livni. Israel's 33rd government (2013-2015) set an additional precendent with its 4 women ministers: Livni, Livnat as well as Yael German and Sofa Landver.

What Happens in Other Democracies?

As of January 2019, there are only three women serving in the Israeli cabinet, constituting 15% of all ministers. This is a very low percentage in comparison with other democratic nations. The annual Global Gender Gap Report, published by the World Economic Forum, includes data on the representation of women in cabinet. The most recent report (2018) lists Israel in 74th place out of 149 countries (World Economic Forum, 2018: 133). 

These statistics are particularly discouraging in light of the worldwide trend toward increased women’s representation in cabinet and other leadership positions. From 2007 to 2011, Finland had a cabinet with a solid majority of women: 12 women ministers vs. eight men. From 2008 to 2011, the cabinet in Spain also had a female majority (9 of 17 ministers were women). Today, Sweden has a cabinet with a slight female majority.

Moreover, in many democracies, the representation of women in the cabinet is greater than their representation in parliament. This is explained by the fact that cabinet ministers are usually appointed by the prime minister (and, in cases of coalition governments, by the leaders of other coalition parties). Having one person appoint ministers greatly facilitates the formation of a gender-balanced team. Over the past few years, heads of state have been displaying increasing attention to gender balance in the cabinet. In the United States, for example, women accounted for about a third of Obama’s outgoing cabinet, and the cabinet appointed by French President François Hollande in the summer of 2012 comprised an equal number of men and women.

In all respects, the new cabinet that will be formed in Israel following the 2019 elections is a golden opportunity for the Prime Minister and the leaders of coalition partners to improve women’s representation in the government. The increase in the representation of women in the Knesset should facilitate that. After 70 years of independence, the time has come for Israel’s governments to reflect greater gender balance.

 

Sources

Druckman, James N., and Paul V. Warwick, 2005. “The Missing Piece: Measuring Portfolio Salience in Western European Parliamentary Democracies,” European Journal of Political Research 44 (1): 17–42.

Kenig, Ofer, and Shlomit Barnea, 2009. “The Selection of Ministers in Israel: Is the Prime Minister A Master of His Domain?,” Israel Affairs 15 (3): 261–278.

Laver, Michael, and Kenneth A. Shepsle, 1990. “Coalitions and Cabinet Governments,” American Political Science Review 84 (3): 873–890. 

World Economic Forum, 2012. “The Global Gender Gap Report: 2012,” (accessed: 3.3.2013). 

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Dr. Ofer Kenig is an IDI researcher who heads the Political Parties Research Team of IDI's Forum for Political Reform in Israel.