\u201cThere has always been an ethos of strong women in Israeli society,\u201d Prof. Michal Frenkel, a sociologist at Hebrew University who studies gender, labor, and religion, recently told The Jerusalem Report. \u201cBut equality was more an ethos and a myth than something that actually existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
That gap, between the image of strength and the reality of inequality, frames the paradox facing women in Israel today.<\/p>\n
Early participation<\/p>\n
From the early days of Zionism, women were active in public life. Influenced by European socialist movements, the Labor movement supported women\u2019s participation and suffrage, though often cautiously and through compromise.<\/p>\n
Women worked, organized, and participated. There were prominent figures \u2013 pioneers, organizers, later a prime minister \u2013 but they were exceptions rather than the norm. That early pattern of participation without authority never fully disappeared.<\/p>\n
According to the Israel Democracy Institute, Israel ranks 17th globally in women\u2019s labor force participation. Women are widely present in paid work, particularly in education, health, and welfare. At the same time, Israel ranks 86th in wage equality for similar positions, and 85th in women\u2019s representation in senior managerial roles.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s work has long been framed as contribution to the collective \u2013 through care, education, and social stability \u2013 rather than as a basis for authority or advancement. Frenkel noted that this framing predates the state itself and continues to influence how women\u2019s labor is valued.<\/p>\n
\u201cContribution was never the same as equality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Power that stalls<\/p>\n
As of 2025, there are 29 women serving as legislators in the Knesset, roughly a quarter of its members. After steady growth between 1999 and 2015, that figure has remained largely unchanged for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n
Even when women enter government, they rarely reach the most influential roles. Over the past 16 years, no woman has held any of Israel\u2019s most senior political positions \u2013 prime minister, defense minister, finance minister, or foreign minister.<\/p>\n
Michal Frenkel\u2019s work focuses on power relations and gender intersectionality in and around organizations. (credit: Courtesy)<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen were present,\u201d Frenkel said, \u201cbut they were always isolated in leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crisis of visibility<\/p>\n
The Israel-Hamas War has heightened women\u2019s visibility across public life. Women serve in reserve duty<\/a>, manage municipal emergency responses, and staff education and welfare systems under prolonged strain.<\/p>\n In the first hours of October 7, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, the security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am, organized the community\u2019s defense and coordinated residents\u2019 response before military forces arrived.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this war, women are everywhere,\u201d Frenkel said. \u201cThey are holding the systems together.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, they remain largely absent from key decision-making bodies. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, women are underrepresented in the security cabinet and were excluded from hostage negotiation teams, despite legal requirements for representation under the Women\u2019s Equal Rights Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n Backlash and boundaries<\/p>\n The slowing of women\u2019s political advancement has unfolded alongside a wider pushback against feminist ideas. Debates about women were no longer just about representation. They became debates about power, religion, and social order.<\/p>\n \u201cAs feminism began to challenge deeper assumptions,\u201d Frenkel said, \u201cthe backlash became much stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n That backlash, she added, is not abstract. \u201cGender becomes the battleground,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause it touches identity, intimacy, and family life.\u201d<\/p>\n This dynamic is not unique to Israel. In the Israeli case, however, it has intersected with demographic change and political power. As religious and ultra-Orthodox communities have grown in size and influence, long-standing gender arrangements have been destabilized.<\/p>\n