Israel's female MKs number rises to 34 in two decades: study

JERUSALEM - The number of women MKs (Knesset Members) in Israel sharply rose from 9 to 34 in the past two decades, according to the new statistics regarding women in the Israeli politics issued by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) on Wednesday, one day ahead of the International Women's Day.

This represents a ratio of about 28 percent for women MKs in Israel, which is closer to the average in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). At present, the total number of Knesset Members is 120 in Israel.

On the other hand, however, woman advances in the municipal level have been very sluggish, said the IDI. In the 50 largest Israeli cities, only 17 percent of all municipal council members are women, and only one female mayor, Miriam Feirberg-Ikar in the city of Netanya.

The analysis conducted by Dr. Ofer Kenig, Avital Fridman and Shahaf Zamir found that around a third of female MKs came from local government.

"If women do not become council members or mayors, this makes it much harder for them to subsequently make their way into national politics," said Dr. Kenig.

According to Dr. Kenig, the government policy should create more incentives for political parties to include more women on their lists at both local and national levels. A first step of this kind is due to be taken at the upcoming local elections and in electoral funding for parties of whom at least one-third are women are eligible for bonus of 15 percent.

Moreover, an IDI study shows female MKs in Israel seem to be more productive legislators. On average, 37 percent more bills proposed by female MKs were passed into law, since the beginning of the 19th Knesset (2013) to the beginning of 2017.