By: Liad Ehud
“More women, more seats” is the opinion of the coordinator of the SHIN movement, Professor Esther Hertzog, who participated in the “Women in the 2015 elections” parliament session. Another participant in the event was Nava Boker, the region’s representative in the elections.
Nava Boker, the region’s representative from the Likud party in the coming elections, participated on Sunday in the “Women in the 2015 elections” parliament session, which took place in Burgata, in Hefer Valley, through the initiative of the Women’s Parliament organization and the SHIN (equal representation of women) movement.
Other participants in the conference were the coordinator of Women’s Parliament and the SHIN movement, Professor Esther Hertzog, Knesset members Michal Biran from the Zionist Union, Yifat Kariv from Yesh Atid and Michal Rozin from Meretz, Ofra Barak, who was candidate for head of the Hefer Valley Regional Council in the 2013 elections, and representatives of the various organizations.
The conference opened with the words of Hertzog, who said, “There is no doubt that the public and political discourse, thanks to the increase of women’s representation in the Knesset and the government, became more social and a little less militaristic, and the politics in Israel became more diverse, in terms of appearance and the voices heard therein”.
Hertzog emphasized the importance of electing women to the 20th Knesset, “Electing women and their involvement in politics create a growing interest in the public, the media and the political parties. In the previous Knesset, 27 women served, which is 22.55 percent of all Knesset members. If we remember that there were Knessests in which only 8 women had served, this seems to be a significant progress. Although we are only halfway to equal numbers, nowadays, parties know that having four women in the top ten representatives or women as party leaders provides a clear advantage to the party’s chances of winning the elections or additional seats. Even Orthodox women dare to found women’s parties, protest against the total control men have in the Orthodox parties, and are willing to tolerate blatant threats… What we are doing today is another action to strengthen the feminine voice”.
During the conference, Nava Boker spoke about her decision to run for the Knesset, “I filled the spot of a new woman in the Likud and I won. Women consist over 50 percent of the population, and the Knesset is not the only place where the representation is insufficient. Women should be incorporated in positions of management and command, which is almost nonexistent. The Police have recently appointed a woman superintendent, which happened in light of recent events, but is nonetheless significant.”