Women’s Representation in Israeli Politics: Analysis for 2025
An analysis and international comparison of women's representation in the Israeli political arena.
Committee Chairman Pnina Tamano-Shata leads status of Women and Gender Equality committee meeting at the Knesset. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
The impressive increase in women's representation in the Knesset that was seen between 1999 and 2015 has stalled. Over the past decade, the percentage of women in Knesset has stood stable at around one quarter. In other political arenas, such as in the cabinet and local government, women's representation is also faltering, especially compared to other democracies.
The topic of women’s representation in the political arena receives a great deal of attention in political science research and literature. The fundamental axiom at the basis of this discourse is the critical importance of a significant presence of women in political roles: it derives from democratic values such as equality and pluralism; such inclusion helps solidify their status in society and conveys the idea that women are equal citizens. Moreover, since women constitute about half of the population, their voice should be equally represented in decision making. The presence and visibility of women in leadership positions also give role models for girls and young women, inspiring them to take on leadership roles.
Many indicators show that women's representation in politics has been continuously improving since the beginning of the 21st century. In 2005, there were only two countries in which the proportion of women among all members of parliament exceeded 40%. Ten years later (2015), there were 13 such countries, and as of the beginning of 2025, there are 27 countries. This improvement is partly explained by the fact that a number of countries have adopted gender quotas, leading to a significant increase in the representation of women in elected office. There has also been increasing cases of cabinets with gender balance, that is, those consisting of an equal number of men and women serving as ministers.
Nonetheless, only a few countries have completely closed the gender gap, and the situation in Israel is not promising. The increase in the representation of women in Knesset between 1999 and 2005 has stalled—in the last decade, the proportion of women in Knesset has remained stagnant at around a quarter of Knesset members. In other political arenas, such as the cabinet and local government, women's representation is also faltering, especially compared to other democracies. The following analysis examines the representation of women in politics in Israel from a comparative perspective.
As of today (March 2025) 29 women serve in Knesset. This is a higher level of representation compared to the distant past, but it also reflects stagnation. As can be seen in the figure below, the first three Knesset elections produced a Knesset with about 10% women. After that, over the course of four decades until 1999, the number of women in the Knesset was consistently low, ranging from a low of seven (1988) to a high of 11 (1992). There was a sharp rise in the number of female Knesset members between 1999 and 2015, but since then there has been no significant change. In the last five elections, the number of women elected has ranged between 28 and 30.
Women in the Knesset: The number of Female MKs
* These values reflect the number of female MKs at the beginning of each legislative term. During the previous Knesset, due to the widespread use of the "Norwegian Law," some women joined over the course of the Knesset term, with their number reaching a record 35 during 2022.
The parliamentary party that currently has the highest representation of women is Yesh Atid, with 9 female MKs. There are 7 women in The Likud, to which we can also add Ministers Miri Regev and Idit Silman, both of whom resigned from Knesset under the "Norwegian Law." In relative terms, the party with the highest proportion of women in Knesset is the Labor Party, in which three of the party's four MKs are women. It's worth noting that at this point in time, there is not a single woman in the position of party leader (Merav Michaeli announced her retirement, and Yair Golan was elected to lead the Democrats Party). By comparison, just over a decade ago, three women served as party leaders: Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), Zehava Golan (Meretz) and Shelly Yachimovich (Labor).
Women in Israeli Politics by Party
Is the percentage of women in Knesset low or high compared to other countries? A comparison shows that Israel ranks 103 out of 185 countries in such a comparison. If we restrict the comparison to OECD countries, we find that Israel now ranks at 32. This means that only 6 other OECD countries have lower women's representation than Israel.
The slowing in the increase of women representation in Knesset over the last decade distances Israel from the rest of the OECD countries, in most of which the increase in female representation continued over in the last decade. In other words, although female representation in Knesset has not weakened - the gap with the OECD average has actually increased. While in 2015 the gap narrowed to a level of about 5%, today this gap has widened again to almost 10%.
Share of Women MPs (%) Israel vs. the OECD
Until 1974, Golda Meir was the only woman to serve in an Israeli Government. She was followed by Shulamit Aloni (1974), Sarah Doron (1983), Shoshana Arbeli (1986), and Ora Namir (1992). Thus, only five women have held a ministerial position until 1996. Since then, another 27 women have been appointed to ministerial positions. Each of the two previous governments recorded a new high in female membership. The 35th Government (the Netanyahu-Gantz Government) formed after the elections in 2020, began its term with a record number of eight women as ministers—double the previous high. Until then, no more than four women had ever served in the Government at the same time. The 36th Government (the Bennett-Lapid Government) broke this mark and included nine women, or one-third of the total ministers. As shown in the table below, the current Government represents a sharp retreat from these peaks.
Women in the Last Three Cabinets
When considering women's representation in the Government, we should go beyond the dry numbers. Even if more women than in the past are appointed to ministerial positions, they are generally not appointed to the more prestigious ministries. Only two women have ever served as Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Golda Meir (1956–1966) and Tzipi Livni (2006–2009). No woman has ever held the other two most prestigious portfolios—Defense and Finance. Over the last 16 years, not a single woman has served in any of Israel's most senior political positions—Prime Minister, Defense Minister, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister.
Furthermore, even if there has been a rise in the number of women in Israeli governments, the change has been slower than that in many democracies. In some, not only has the number of women increased, but there are also instances of gender parity or even a female majority in the government. As can be seen in the figure below, the current government of Finland has a female majority. In Norway, Canada, Sweden, Australia, the United Kingdom and Spain, their number is equal or almost equal to that of male ministers. In contrast, there are countries where the government remain mostly men: in the Czech Republic, only 6% of government members are women, in Japan - only 10%, and in Israel it is one-sixth.
Cabinet Composition – by Gender
The number of women who have held their country’s most senior political position (prime minister or executive president) has increased significantly over the last two decades. Today, women hold the most senior position in six of the 38 OECD countries. These include Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo in Mexico, and Mette Frederiksen in Denmark. As can be seen in the Table, since 2012 more than half of the OECD countries (23 out of 38) have had a woman prime minister or president. This list includes countries where this was the first time that the glass ceiling had been broken (e.g., Italy, Belgium, Austria, Sweden), and others where women had previously reached the top (UK, New Zealand). In 11 of the 38 OECD countries, no woman has yet held the most senior position, including in the United States, where the first two female Democratic presidential candidates lost to Donald Trump: Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
The Last Time a Woman Held a Senior Position* in the 38 OECD Countries
*Includes Prime Ministers or Presidents for presidential democracies (ceremonial presidents are not included in the list).
Israel was one of the first countries in which a woman held the most senior political position. When Golda Meir was named Prime Minister in 1969, she was only the third woman in the world to have reached that position. However, since her resignation in 1974, all ten Israeli prime ministers have been men.
Conclusion
After many years of an upward trend, women’s presence in the Israeli political arena is now in a stagnant trend, and the rise in their parliamentary representation has been halted. The peak reached in the Bennett-Lapid Government has been followed by a significant decrease in female membership in the current Government. In other respects as well, female representation is faltering. For example, in local government, the percentage of women elected to the position of head of authority (mayors, heads of local and regional councils) jumped in the 2018 elections to a record level of 5.6%. However, in the subsequent elections (2024), this percentage increased only slightly to 5.8%. The percentage of women elected to council members in local authorities has also improved too slowly. In the Knesset, only one of the 15 chairpersons of the standing committees is a woman: Pnina Tamano is the chairwoman of the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women.
Nor should we forget that political representation is only one aspect of gender equality. Another important aspect relates to women’s economic status. Here the picture in Israel is even less encouraging: Alongside women’s high rate of participation in the labor force (17th in the world, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2024), there are very large wage disparities between Israeli women and men who hold similar positions (86th place) and an abysmal record in senior managerial positions (85th place).
The Global Gender Gap Report currently places Israel in 91st place overall, representing a drop of 8 places compared to the previous report. The main reason for this decline is the slowdown in female representation in political arenas, especially in relation to other countries.