Since Golda Meir became the first female foreign affairs minister in 1956 and later the first female prime minister in 1969—a position held by only three other women worldwide at the time—Israel has steadily regressed in integrating women into government leadership.
A recent analysis titled Women’s Representation in Israeli Politics: Analysis for 2025 by Prof. Ofer Kenig, an Israel Democracy Institute Research Fellow, highlights the stagnation of women’s representation in Israeli politics. The report indicates that, compared to other member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Israel has made significantly less progress in increasing female political participation.
The OECD, an international organization comprising 38 countries, aims to address economic, environmental, and social challenges. According to Prof. Kenig’s analysis, the Israeli government has remained largely stagnant in advancing women’s political inclusion since 2015. The number of women in the Knesset has fluctuated between 28 and 30, and Israel’s share of female parliamentarians is 9.8 percentage points below the OECD average.
Women in Israel’s government: A declining trend
The number of women in Israel’s last three cabinets has remained consistently low. The Netanyahu-Gantz cabinet (2020-2021) included just eight women, making up 23.5% of the government. The Bennett-Lapid cabinet (2021-2022) saw a slight increase, with nine women, raising female representation to 33.3%. However, the current cabinet, as of March 2025, has only five women, dropping female representation to 16.7%.
Compared to other nations, Israel ranks near the bottom in terms of gender diversity in government. Finland leads with 63% of its cabinet members being women, followed by Norway at 50%. Israel ranks third from last with 17%, only slightly ahead of Japan.
Golda Meir remains the only female prime minister in Israel’s history, having resigned in 1974. In the past 16 years, no woman has held any of Israel’s most senior positions, including prime minister, foreign minister, or defense minister.
Public opinion on women’s representation in politics
A survey conducted by Anat Thon Ashkenazy, the Director of the Israel Democracy Institute's Center for Democratic Values and Institutions and the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research, polled 766 Israelis over the age of 18 in both Hebrew and Arabic. Participants were asked about their views on female representation in political leadership.
Among Jewish respondents, support for greater female representation varied by political affiliation: 80% of left-leaning participants, 83% of centrist voters, and 50% of right-leaning voters expressed a desire for more women in politics.
Overall, 70% of respondents either strongly or somewhat agreed that women should be better represented in government and senior positions. Among politically left-leaning Jewish respondents, the figure rose to 81%. However, when asked whether they would prefer political parties with equal female representation, support declined to 65% overall, with 50% of right-leaning respondents and 80% of left-leaning participants in favor.
Additionally, 65% of those surveyed agreed that increasing the number of women in the Knesset would improve the overall well-being of women in Israel.