In recent days, female politicians have been in the headlines. First there was Shelly Yachimovich's departure from politics; then there was Orly Levy-Abekasis merging her Gesher party with Labor; and finally, Ayelet Shaked became the leader of the New Right party. But despite women being at the spotlight, these developments can hardly be described as progress.
The sad truth is that the number of women legislators has dropped in recent years, and is likely to drop further once a new Knesset is sworn in following the Sept. 17 election.
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Many political parties have chosen in recent years to avoid any democratic election of their candidates for Knesset, opting instead to have the candidate list hand-picked by the party leader or governing body.
In theory, this could make it easier to place women in high slots on the list, but the reality is that parties' political haggling to form joint tickets has resulted in women being placed much farther down, making it less likely they will actually win a Knesset seat (In Israel, the number of Knesset seats a party receives is proportional to the vote it garners in a general election).
The decision to place so few women in the upper slots on the lists is an insult to half of the population.
It is incumbent on us all to see that women get at least half of all Knesset seats, not just because it makes sense, but also because women are more likely to promote gender equality and women rights.
Sure, male MKs can also be committed to womens' rights, but they don't fight the cause with great fervor, nor do they have a fire in their belly to make it a main goal of their legislative work.
On the other hand, there have been many female MKs who entered the Knesset and worked overtime to advance womens' rights.
Yachimovich's departure is a loss for feminism, not just because she was one of the few high-profile women in politics, but also because of her strong and eloquent voice on feminist issues. There are many like her who have been left out of the Knesset because they were not placed high enough on their parties' lists.
That said, the return of women politicians to national politics these past few days is a ray of hope.
Shaked has been a force for good in politics and has been invaluable in the fight to ban prostitution.
But despite Shaked becoming the new leader of her party, you won't find many other women high up on the New Right's candidate list. Having an iconic woman take the helm is not the same as full representation.
"You can't be what you can't see," a famous feminist slogan says. With mere days to go before parties submit their final lists of candidates, all party leaders have an obligation to make sure women are properly and fully represented on their prospective Knesset slates.
