Israeli female ministers introduce reforms, shake up agenda
With nine female ministers, the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett includes the highest number ever of women in an Israeli Cabinet.
The government confronting Israel’s fourth wave of the coronavirus differs greatly from the makeup of the governments that dealt with the previous three, with a new leadership and a record number of nine female government ministers — about one-third of the total. While low in Western terms, this level of representation is Israel’s highest ever and a welcome achievement in gender terms, enhanced by the appointment of nine women as directors general of government ministries (some under male ministers).
The age of the female ministers ranges from 38 to 59. Some have served in previous governments, and all head ministries tasked with civilian rather than defense-related issues. Ayelet Shaked, 45, of Yamina is the first woman to hold the post of interior minister. Karin Elharar, 43, of the Yesh Atid party is the first woman to serve as energy minister. Elharar is also the most severely disabled person to serve in government, requiring a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy.
Other female government members are the minister of immigrant absorption, Ethiopian-born Pnina Tamano Shata, 40, of the Blue and White party; Science and Technology Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen, 50, also of Blue and White; Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg, 45, of the Meretz party; Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, 48, of the New Hope party; Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli, 54, of Labor; and Economy Minister Orna Barbivai, 59, of the Yesh Atid party. Barbivai has already made history by being the first woman promoted to the rank of major general and then serving as the first female chair of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Minister of Social Equality Merav Cohen, 38, of Blue and White is the youngest among this women’s roster, but a veteran social campaigner.
The coronavirus pandemic has provided these women with a platform to demonstrate more complex thinking on managing this distinctly civilian crisis, especially regarding its effect on the school system.
