INDEX TO PRIMER
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Women There have never been more than 12 women (out of 120 MKs) in any Knesset, and a women's party, WIZO, was elected only once, to the First Knesset. Women's parties ran in the elections to the Ninth, 13th, and 14th Knessets, but did not pass the qualifying threshold.
Traditionally, more women have been elected in the left-wing parties than in the right-wing ones. Two parties -- the left-wing Ratz and the right-wing Tehiya -- were founded by women, Shulamit Aloni and Geula Cohen, respectively. Israel has had one woman prime minister, Golda Meir (1969-74), and in the second Rabin governent there were two women ministers, Ora Namir (Labor) and Shulamit Aloni (Meretz). There were nine women in the 14th Knesset: three in the Labor Party, two in the Likud, two in Meretz, one in Hadash, and one in Yisrael Ba'aliya. The number of women in the 15th Knesset is likely to grow to 12 or more, and for the first time an Arab woman has a chance of getting into the Knesset - not within the framework of the Arab parties, but within the framework of Meretz. Click on a party name for more information
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