Gov't slammed for lack of female representation

[Englander]

Olmert’s coalition hasn’t been fully assembled yet, but it appears that only two of 27 ministers will be women; women’s rights activists: This is a disgrace, revolution is needed; Israel ranks 40th - below Cuba, Mexico, Tunisia, in female representation in government

Ilan Marciano

The new Kadima government is set to appoint 27 ministers. Possibly even more. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apparently doesn’t skimp when it comes to coalition partnerships. However, when it comes to another kind of partnership – with women –discrimination seems to be the word of the day.

If there are no last minute surprises, only two of the 27 ministers to be appointed will be women: Tzipi Livni (Kadima) as Foreign Minister, and Yuli Tamir as Education Minister. In comparison, during the last government’s peak under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, there were four women ministers: Livni, Limor Livnat, Dalia Itzik and Yehudit Naot. In addition, four female deputy ministers served alongside them – positions which will be completely absent from the next government.

Adi Bershadsky, a member of the Ken (Koach Nashi, or Woman Power) Foundation, claims that this is a “certificate of poverty for Israeli society.”

“Israeli society is made up of 52 percent women, and that should be their representation in parliament and cabinet as well,” Bershadsky says. “If there was a law ruling that parties be made up of at least 50 percent women, then the potential for women to serve in the government would be great. There needs to be a revolution.”

More at;
Ynet

[Kagemusha]

1. Unfortunately they have a hard enough time as it is over there

You have SO many parties in a coalition that they have to pick movers and shakers first, and the movers and shakers are men, so the women further down the list get passed over because they're not in the top 2 or 3 people. Note how the women ministers are from the party that won the most seats...

My point is, if you made cabinet over 50% women, forming an effective government out of such messy coalitions would result in a pretty disastrous situation. If women are not leading parties, multi-party coalitions forced to put non heavy hitters in important positions would render the pressure relating to the critical positions even more unbearable than it already is.

It'd be great to have more women but, in this case, they have a lot of other problems, internal and external...

[ShalachEtAmi]

2. Tzipi Livni

Is the Foreign affairs minister,Future Deputy Prime Minister,number 2 in the government.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzipi_Livni


But this is not enough...and as in all Democratic countries it is a constant battle increasing the proportion of Women representation.

Israel is however one of the few Western Democracies to have had a women Prime Minister....

[Englander]

3. Yeah, I knew that already, as it was in the article.

I don't know if you noticed that, it was already mentioned, those canny journos at Ynet
had the brilliant idea of listing all of the female ministers. Which is what yer'd expect,
in an article about said female ministers, all two of them.

--Israel is however one of the few Western Democracies to have had a women Prime Minister....--

*Ahem*

Golda Meir (1898-1978)
Prime minister of Israel from 17 Mar 1969 to 3 Jun 1974 and third women in the world to reach that post behind Sri Lanka's Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1960) and India's Indira Gandhi (1966).

Margaret Thatcher (1925-)
Prime minister of the United Kingdom from 4 May 1979 to 28 Nov 1990. First woman elected ruler in Europe.

Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo (1930-2004)
Prime minister of Portugal from 1 Aug 1979 to 3 Jan 1980.

Mary Eugenia Charles (1919-2005)
Prime minister of Dominica from 21 Jul 1980 to 14 Jun 1995. Second black woman ruler in the world behind Central Africa's Elisabeth Domitien, first Caribbean (and American) female premier and third American female ruler.

Gro Harlem Brundtland (1939-)
Prime minister of Norway three times: from 4 Feb to 14 Oct 1981, from 9 May 1986 to 16 Oct 1989 and from 3 Nov 1990 to 25 Oct 1996. She currently serves as as chief of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Kazimiera Danutë Prunskienë (1943-)
Prime minister of Lithuania from 17 Mar 1990 to 10 Jan 1991.

Edith Cresson (1934-)
Prime minister of France from 15 May 1991 to 2 Apr 1992

Hanna Suchocka (1946-)
Prime minister of Poland from 8 Jul 1992 to 26 Oct 1993.

Kim Campbell (1947-)
Prime minister of Canada from 25 Jun to 5 Nov 1993. First woman ruler in North America.

Tansu Çiller (1946-)
Prime minister of Turkey from 25 Jun 1993 to 7 Mar 1996. She belongs to the reduced but notable group of women rulers in muslim countries, along with Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto, Bangladesh' Hasina Wajed and Khaleda Zia, and Indonesia's Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Reneta Indzhova (1953-)
Interim prime minister of Bulgaria from 16 Oct 1994 to 25 Jan 1995.

Claudette Werleigh (1944-)
Prime minister of Haiti from 7 Nov 1995 to 27 Feb 1996.

Janet Jagan (1920-)
Prime minister of Guyana from 17 Mar 1997 to December 19, 1997.

Jenny Shipley (1952-)
Prime minister of New Zealand from 8 Dec 1997 to 10 Dec 1999. Shipley was not only the first woman ruler in New Zealand (aside from former governor-general Catherine Tizard, with token duties), but in an independent state of South Pacific/Oceania as well.

Irena Degutienë (1949-)
Acting prime minister of Lithuania twice, from 4 to 18 May 1999 and from 27 Oct to 3 Nov 1999. Second Lithuanian premier behind Kazimiera Prunskiene in early 90s.

Helen Elizabeth Clark (1950-)
On 10 Dec 1999 Helen Clark became the second consecutive woman prime minister of New Zealand, succeeding Jenny Shipley.

Beatriz Merino Lucero (1948-)
Prime minister of Peru from 28 Jun to 15 Dec 2003.

Radmila Sekerinska (1972-)
Acting prime minister of Macedonia twice in 2004, from 12 May to 12 Jun and from 18 Nov to 17 Dec.

Yuliya Tymoshenko (1960-)
Prime minister of Ukraine from 24 Jan to 8 Sep 2005.

Angela Merkel (1954-)
Federal Chancellor of Germany from 22 Nov 2005.

Portia Simpson-Miller (1945-)
Prime Minister of Jamaica from 30 Mar 2006.

http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/00women3.htm