Zero representation: women are half of the population - and are absent from the top management of the government - voila! news

January 15, 2023 cabinet meeting (Roni Knafo)

What do the names have in common: Moshe Bar Siman Tov, Eyal Zamir, Ronan Levy, Ronan Peretz, Shlomi Heizler, Assaf Tselal, Kafir Suissa, Amnon Merhav, Itamar Donnenfeld, Yehuda Morgenstern, Elad Malka, Kobi Blitstein.

First: in the last two weeks, all of them received an appointment as the CEO of a government ministry in the new government. But those with a keen eye will notice another thing in common: they are all men. Since the sixth Netanyahu government was sworn in, the ministers have been announcing, one after the other, the people of trust who will actually manage the work of their ministries on their behalf - and in the meantime, no Even one female CEO was appointed.

So far, the identities of the CEOs in the Prime Minister's Office, Treasury, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Justice, Health, Interior, Education, Communications, Energy, Economy, Culture and Sports, and Environmental Protection have been announced. In addition to the ministers of the ultra-Orthodox factions, none of the ministers - Vashrut - Likud, did not choose a woman for the position. Minister of Innovation and Science Ofir Akunis, who initially intended to appoint former MK Osnat Mark as the CEO of his office, was the only one so far to place a woman at the head of his office, but Mark decided to withdraw her nomination for fear that she would not pass the committee the appointments in the Civil Service Commission, and in her place Akunis chose to appoint Gadi Arieli, CEO of Likud and former CEO of the Export Institute, another man added to the list.

Women make up more than fifty percent of the population but are woefully underrepresented.

The 37th government (Photo: Reuven Castro)

There are still a number of ministers who have not yet announced the CEOs they wish to appoint to the ministries, but if the current trend continues - there will be zero women in the government's administrative decision-making avenue. This is a sharp decrease compared to the previous government, which broke the record of 9 female CEOs, but also at the lowest ebb This is the lowest the representation of women in senior management levels in the government has fallen in more than 20 years.

Data from the women's lobby show that since 2001, when only one female CEO served in government ministries, the number of female CEOs has not been so low.

Even Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has already made some of the senior appointments in his office, has for the time being appointed only men - the head of the Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet Secretary, the head of the National Economic Council and the head of the National Economic Council.

The deputy attorney general, Avital Sompolinski, addressed the ministers last week and mentioned the obligation of adequate representation for women in senior positions in the civil service, in the law, regulations and instructions of the attorney general.

The chairman of the committee on the status of women in the Knesset, MK Panina Tamno Sheta from the state camp, also appealed to the prime minister and ministers this week, and warned that "the current government is deepening the exclusion of women from significant key positions and standing at the head of government ministries."

In the meantime, it doesn't seem that the appeals fell on deaf ears.

It is not yet known of a single woman who is a candidate for the position of CEO in the government. Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer of the Religious Zionists continues in the meantime with the current CEO of his office Daganit Sankar Langa, and if she stays in her position she may be the only CEO.

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The only woman appointed as CEO of a ministry by a minister in the government - but withdrew her candidacy.

Mark (Photo: Reuven Castro)

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Women make up more than fifty percent of the population, but from the beginning in the current coalition they are woefully underrepresented, given the exclusion of women from the ultra-orthodox parties that make up about a third of Netanyahu's sixth government.

Only 9 of the 64 members of the coalition - 14% - are women, in the government there are 6 ministers - Miri Regev, Gila Gamliel, Idit Silman, Orit Strock and Galit Distal Atabrian, who make up about 18% of the total of 32 ministers.

The political and security cabinet has 11 members and Regev is the only woman (9% female representation), and in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation that was appointed this week, two out of 11 serve (18%).

The coalition also holds most of the senior positions in the Knesset, and women's representation there is also significantly lacking.

Only two women head a committee in the Knesset - out of 19 committees in total;

Only one of them is from the coalition - Limor Son Har Melech of Otzma Yehudit, who heads the committee for the supervision of the fund for the citizens of Israel, and from the opposition Tamno Sheta, who heads the committee for the status of women.

The coalition did not appoint a single woman to the position of deputy speaker of the Knesset, and as of now, the only woman who will hold the position is Yifat Shasha Biton from the state camp, out of 9 deputy speakers that are allowed according to the Knesset regulations.

"The current government deepens the exclusion of women."

Tamno Sheta (photo: official website, Miriam Elster/Flash 90)

As part of the coalition agreements, the government also committed to cancel the board of directors of the government companies, which currently includes 50% women in advance, and to expand the influence of the politicians on the appointments in the government companies.

Even in the committee for the selection of judges, whose composition is expected to change as part of the reform of Justice Minister Yariv Levin, there is currently a requirement that at least 4 of the 9 representatives be women.

It is not clear what guarantee of gender representation will be in the new law, if any.

According to the CEO of the Women's Lobby, Hadas Danieli Yelin, "When women are at the center of decision-making, they worry about and promote issues related to women.

They can see the decisions that are made through glasses that men don't always see.

When there are no women serving, CEOs, chairpersons of committees, this directly affects the national agenda, which is absent from dealing with the issues important to women, thus harming women's rights."

She added that "in the current situation where there are extremist elements in the government, who have already announced and announced that they will advance laws and decisions that will harm women's rights, we are even more concerned about the low representation of women in the government and in the Knesset, which is at a low ebb. They will not be there to prevent the harm to women's rights that are indicated by the coalition agreements. They are not They will be there to make the voices of all women, from all sectors and the entire political spectrum, heard."

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• women

• Government Offices

• representation of women

• Pinina Tamno-Sheta

• Miri Regev