By Daphna Hacker
Last month, the Israel Women’s Network (IWN), along with Na’amat and Forum Dvora, achieved a legal victory when the supreme court ruled that the government must fulfil its legal obligation to appoint women to senior leadership roles in the civil service. The petition to Israel’s highest court was submitted following the government’s nomination of 18 chief executives for its ministries – 17 men and one woman. By that decision, the government ignored prior warnings from the attorney general and from the head of the Authority for Promoting Women’s Status regarding the legal requirement for “adequate representation of women” in civil service nominations.
During the proceedings, the government reported that half of senior civil service positions are held by women, yet only two of the 29 final appointments as ministry chief executives were women. Similarly, only nine women held positions equivalent to chief executive out of 60 such roles, and just two women served among 15 deputy chief executives. Information presented by the petitioners showed that only 26 percent of the 362 positions which are exempted from open recruitment within the civil service are occupied by women, with many of these being administrative and secretarial roles rather than genuine senior positions.
The three supreme court justices hearing the case – Justices Noam Sohlberg, Khaled Kabub and Daphne Barak-Erez – unanimously accepted the petition, affirming that the legal obligation to ensure “adequate representation of women” applies to all civil service positions, including ministry chief executives and other senior positions that are exempted from open recruitment. The court acknowledged continuing biases against women in high-level appointments and emphasised the importance of diversity and role models for junior women.
The court went on to order the government to issue new guidelines within six months that would: require ministers to actively search for qualified women when recommending candidates; place the burden of proof on ministers to demonstrate that a suitable woman cannot be found if a man is recommended; and compel those bodies responsible for approving ministers’ recommendations to consider adequate representation of women as a factor in nominations.
While this ruling represents a victory for women’s rights advocates and follows previous IWN legal successes (such as opening the IDF pilot course to women and increasing female representation on governmental company boards), challenges remain. The court did not cancel the existing male-dominated chief executive appointments, and implementing these guidelines, if indeed they are drafted, may prove difficult even for future nominations.
Even more concerning is the potential that this important ruling will be disregarded by Israel’s current right-wing government, as part of its attempt to change the whole of the Israeli democratic system, including by weakening the supreme court. The government might even decide to override this court decision by abolishing laws mandating affirmative action for women. Global trends, influenced by the Trump administration’s rollback of equality and diversity initiatives, may further complicate progress. Only time will tell whether this supreme court decision was an important milestone in the struggle for women’s equality in Israel or becomes another chapter in the country’s ongoing constitutional crisis.
Daphna Hacker is a professor at the law faculty and the women and gender studies programme at Tel Aviv University and chair of the Israeli Women’s Network
