What does it take for women to run for the Israeli parliament? How are…
The Elected, Part 1
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Throughout the years, women have been a minority in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset). Their right to vote or be elected was never a given, and remains a struggle to this day. Through interviews with MPs, experts and journalists, combined with rare archive footage, this series documents their struggle for representation and a seat at the decision-making table, women's legislation, the harassment they undergo, gender inequality and the possibility of heading a political party and even becoming Prime Minister.
With rare candor, past and current female MPs from various political parties share their journey to the Knesset.
Citation
Main credits
Shalom Danon, Efrat (film director)
Shalom Danon, Efrat (screenwriter)
Trabelsi, Osnat (film director)
Trabelsi, Osnat (screenwriter)
Trabelsi, Osnat (film producer)
Elefant, Lior (film director)
Other credits
Cinematography, Tanya Aizikovich; editing, Miri Laufer, Tamar Kay; music, Ellyott.
Distributor subjects
No distributor subjects provided.Keywords
00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:14.920
Where is it?
-It's not in the right place?
00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:17.720
No, it is.
-But...
00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:19.480
But...
-Yes.
00:00:19.560 --> 00:00:23.040
I'll try something, sorry.
-Do what you have to, it's fine.
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.600
If you were a man
apologizing so many times, I'd get it,
00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:31.400
but it's fine.
00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:33.920
Are you rolling?
00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.600
Limor Livnat, good luck.
00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:39.360
When I came for the first time
00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:41.760
to one of the branches in Tel Aviv
00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:43.360
to talk to the members,
00:00:43.440 --> 00:00:47.080
the late Motke Tzipori was with me.
00:00:47.160 --> 00:00:48.440
He spoke,
00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:52.120
and his voice thundered out through the branch.
00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:55.320
He talked about security matters and so forth,
00:00:55.400 --> 00:00:58.320
then I got up to speak
00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:02.000
and I said:
"Hello, good evening,
00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:03.920
"I'm Limor Livnat and I..."
00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.920
and I realized that my voice
couldn't reach the end of the room.
00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:12.720
Compared to his thundering voice,
00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:16.000
mine sounded very small.
00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.520
And I also noticed
that they weren't listening to me.
00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.920
Some because they couldn't hear me,
00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:29.600
and others because
they were scrutinizing me from head to toe.
00:01:30.160 --> 00:01:32.800
When I got home, I said to myself,
"I've got to do something about it."
00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:35.120
I took off all of my rings but one.
00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:38.000
I left my wedding ring on.
00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:41.000
So they would see that I was just
a run of the mill person,
00:01:41.080 --> 00:01:44.080
I wasn't looking for adventure,
00:01:44.440 --> 00:01:45.840
I'm married.
00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:51.000
I also practiced speaking in a lower voice,
00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.080
I practiced saying "good evening",
00:01:54.440 --> 00:01:57.760
I worked on the volume of my voice,
00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:59.480
instead of just saying, "good evening."
00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:01.680
It takes practice.
00:02:08.760 --> 00:02:11.280
As I come to present the next government
00:02:11.640 --> 00:02:12.720
to the house.
00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:18.000
Women in the State of Israel
are not equal to men in the State of Israel
00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:19.080
in any regard.
00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:25.440
There are too many generals,
those who act like generals,
00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:28.120
and too few women.
00:02:28.160 --> 00:02:33.760
Healthy women
are the guarantee for a healthy society.
00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:56.480
Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Esteemed Knesset,
00:02:56.920 --> 00:02:59.800
I am making my debut speech
in the Knesset
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.360
with a sense of awe,
00:03:02.440 --> 00:03:06.240
a sense of calling,
with an understanding of the responsibility
00:03:06.320 --> 00:03:08.080
and with a personal sense of excitement.
00:03:08.160 --> 00:03:11.400
Without a doubt,
as I stand here before you today
00:03:11.480 --> 00:03:15.160
at the podium of the 19th Knesset,
00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:17.320
it is one of the most exciting days of my life.
00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:19.800
Many meaningful moments of my life
00:03:19.880 --> 00:03:21.640
surface and overwhelm me
00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:23.320
as I stand here for the first time
00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:25.360
at the podium in the Israeli Knesset.
00:03:25.440 --> 00:03:27.160
This is the first time
00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:30.720
in which my hometown is represented here,
00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:32.440
the city of Kiryat Shmona.
00:03:32.640 --> 00:03:36.000
I know that I stand here
as a messenger of many people
00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:39.280
for whom Zionism is a value and cause.
00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:44.480
It's a great privilege to be the youngest
to stand at this distinguished podium.
00:03:44.880 --> 00:03:49.360
Many of my predecessors
do not believe that my generation
00:03:49.440 --> 00:03:51.960
has the necessary experience to stand here.
00:03:52.040 --> 00:03:53.920
The fact that I stand here,
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.240
at this podium
00:03:55.320 --> 00:03:56.960
should serve as proof to many activists
00:03:57.040 --> 00:04:00.040
that anyone who wants to make
an impact from within
00:04:00.160 --> 00:04:01.520
can do so.
00:04:01.640 --> 00:04:04.440
It's a tremendous honor
to be a small link
00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:06.080
in an illustrious chain of women
00:04:06.160 --> 00:04:07.720
in Israeli public life.
00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:11.320
A dark-skinned Jewish woman
00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:14.720
whose personality was formed
within these gender definitions.
00:04:14.920 --> 00:04:16.800
A Palestinian Arab woman,
00:04:16.880 --> 00:04:18.920
citizen of the State of Israel,
00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.040
a woman, a mother.
00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:04.240
I can say that my trajectory in life,
00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.000
if we define it as such,
00:05:06.080 --> 00:05:10.120
began from the bottom
of the Israeli social ladder.
00:05:10.200 --> 00:05:13.520
MK Pnina Tamano.
-Thank you.
00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:15.320
Good luck.
-Thank you.
00:05:15.400 --> 00:05:16.880
Pnina Tamano.
00:05:16.960 --> 00:05:18.240
I pledge myself.
00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:24.680
I encountered injustices,
obstacles, bureaucracy,
00:05:25.440 --> 00:05:28.080
steel walls, not only glass ceilings,
00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:33.520
and that honed the significant need
00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:35.080
to effect change,
00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:38.000
because I felt that it's a struggle
for who I am,
00:05:38.080 --> 00:05:40.320
for my existence in Israeli society.
00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:43.120
Tzipi Livni, an attorney,
00:05:43.200 --> 00:05:45.640
running for the Likud on the national list.
00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.200
I was hesitant, I must say.
00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:50.120
I discussed it with my husband
00:05:50.200 --> 00:05:54.560
and I looked at my two sons,
then 5 and 8,
00:05:55.080 --> 00:05:56.400
and asked myself
what I was going to leave them.
00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:58.400
I was an attorney, I had a law firm.
00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:01.800
I said, okay,
I can leave a bank account,
00:06:01.880 --> 00:06:04.320
but that's not enough.
What kind of country am I leaving them?
00:06:04.400 --> 00:06:07.240
And at a certain point I said,
00:06:07.320 --> 00:06:09.600
"Okay, I'll try,
00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:16.600
"If worst comes to worst
I'll leave after 4 years, one term,
00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:20.360
and Naftali said to me,
"I know you, my wife,
00:06:20.440 --> 00:06:22.400
"You won't leave
until you're Prime Minister,"
00:06:22.760 --> 00:06:24.680
but that wasn't the plan.
00:06:26.880 --> 00:06:29.080
I can tell you about a specific moment
00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:31.920
when I decided to become a politician.
00:06:32.280 --> 00:06:35.120
It was during a manifesto
on the Friday Night News,
00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:41.480
after the Finance Committee cut back 4%
of the Old Age Benefits
00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:43.320
and I did a segment on that
00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:46.880
and the editor refused to air it
00:06:46.960 --> 00:06:49.640
because he said
it wasn't sexy and no one cared.
00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:51.840
We battled it out for a whole week.
00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.680
Some elderly people are fortunate,
00:06:56.760 --> 00:07:00.080
but there are others whose old age
is not an insult, but a true disgrace.
00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.600
After I watched the recording on Friday,
00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.920
the penny dropped.
I said to myself,
00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:11.440
"Is this what I've been fighting for all week?
An Op-Ed on the Friday news?
00:07:11.520 --> 00:07:14.880
"I could have been on the Finance Committee
and prevented it.
00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:17.280
"I could have been there to fight."
00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:21.680
On my first day at the Knesset
00:07:21.760 --> 00:07:24.440
we sat around a table in the "Negev" hall.
00:07:24.520 --> 00:07:28.480
The Knesset Speaker at the time
was former President Ruvi Rivlin,
00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:32.160
and Ruvi, with endless excitement,
00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:37.880
said, "New Knesset members,
I am pleased to welcome you here."
00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:40.800
That was...
I had tears in my eyes.
00:07:40.880 --> 00:07:43.120
I think that for the first 6 months
00:07:43.200 --> 00:07:45.280
whenever someone said,
"MK Michaeli,"
00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:49.800
it would always take me a moment to understand,
"MK Michaeli."
00:07:50.200 --> 00:07:55.120
Each time I would get a physical sense
of the weight of the responsibility.
00:07:55.200 --> 00:07:57.600
My shoulders would go like this.
00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.720
We're here as equals
00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:05.000
to take our fate into our hands
and shape the reality of our lives.
00:08:06.080 --> 00:08:09.400
But not only the reality
of our lives as women,
00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:13.040
women are not isolated from men,
00:08:13.400 --> 00:08:16.720
women are not isolated
from society, economy, employment,
00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.880
the military, war, peace, security.
00:08:19.960 --> 00:08:22.480
Exclusion of women happens first
and foremost in this house,
00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:27.600
where we are represented by barely one quarter
and you by over three quarters.
00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:24.320
The struggle began in 1919
and went on until 1926.
00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:25.680
The unofficial headline
00:09:25.760 --> 00:09:28.640
was the struggle for the right
to vote and be elected,
00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.280
which today, sounds simply unheard of.
00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:35.000
How could someone in the Zionist movement
00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:38.720
tell a woman, "You can't vote?"
00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.680
It was led by a women's organization -
00:09:41.760 --> 00:09:44.320
"The Hebrew Women's Union for Equal Rights"
00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.680
in order to resolve something
that everyone agreed was intolerable.
00:09:47.760 --> 00:09:53.360
But many of them
tended to accept the views of men:
00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:55.720
"Wait for better days.
00:09:55.800 --> 00:10:00.920
"Let's get through this,
obtain recognition from the British Mandate,
00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:05.400
"then we can focus
on these minor issues of the right to vote."
00:10:13.640 --> 00:10:15.840
If we ask ourselves
why women couldn't vote
00:10:15.920 --> 00:10:17.560
and who didn't let them vote,
00:10:17.640 --> 00:10:21.680
the question is related to that little hyphen
between "Jewish" and "Democratic"
00:10:21.880 --> 00:10:24.320
and the issue of religion and state
in the State of Israel.
00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:28.480
The struggle isn't necessarily
against the religious or the Orthodox,
00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:31.960
rather, it's against those entities
00:10:32.040 --> 00:10:34.400
that take the religious
and the Orthodox into account first,
00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:36.680
and only then the women.
00:10:38.040 --> 00:10:42.440
The Orthodox in the old Jewish community
objected to granting women the vote.
00:10:42.760 --> 00:10:46.080
They said,
"This is not the way of Judaism,
00:10:46.160 --> 00:10:49.600
"women cannot be involved in public matters."
00:10:55.920 --> 00:10:56.960
After this struggle ended,
00:10:57.040 --> 00:11:00.800
women could be elected
into the Assembly of Representatives
00:11:00.880 --> 00:11:03.120
which would later become
00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:06.520
the representatives
when the State was established.
00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:16.360
I am opening the Knesset session.
00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:19.280
In its early years, the State of Israel
was at an all-time low
00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:21.560
in terms of female representation
in the Knesset.
00:11:21.640 --> 00:11:24.160
The number wavered around 10%.
00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.200
One of the answers to the question of why
it didn't go higher than 10%
00:11:35.280 --> 00:11:38.280
is related to the status of women at the time,
00:11:38.400 --> 00:11:40.440
what women did,
to where they were steered,
00:11:40.520 --> 00:11:42.800
and once again
we have the same distribution of roles,
00:11:42.880 --> 00:11:44.840
that same designation of motherhood
00:11:44.920 --> 00:11:48.560
as the top priority.
00:11:48.640 --> 00:11:50.560
Everything else would come after,
00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:54.000
such as working outside the home
as a nurse, a teacher,
00:11:54.160 --> 00:11:57.000
a nanny, a preschool teacher, if anything,
00:11:57.080 --> 00:11:58.640
so a Member of Knesset?
00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:10.600
It was a time when women didn't talk
about the status of women.
00:12:10.680 --> 00:12:15.160
If women made it into politics
after '48 - '50,
00:12:15.680 --> 00:12:18.160
until the 1980's, it wasn't something
to deal with,
00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:21.680
because the majority of these women
came to politics
00:12:21.760 --> 00:12:26.120
after a long time in which
they had managed as women in a man's world.
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:31.680
They had all undergone the initiation period
of being the only woman in the establishment
00:12:31.760 --> 00:12:33.040
and when they reached the Knesset,
00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:38.120
it was still an issue
that was somewhat shameful to tackle,
00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:41.800
because if you had come all this way,
00:12:41.880 --> 00:12:43.560
that meant you were as strong as a man.
00:12:43.640 --> 00:12:47.040
The Likkud government deserves
a motion of no confidence
00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:50.240
not only due to its failure
in terms of the economy,
00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:53.880
but for its social failures as well.
00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:57.800
There must be a public parliamentary committee
00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:02.120
to examine and protect the civil rights
00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:04.480
of the inhabitants of the Occupied Territories.
00:13:04.560 --> 00:13:06.960
The people who are breaking the law today
00:13:07.040 --> 00:13:10.280
are those who are evacuating
or intend to evacuate
00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.080
Jews from the Land of Israel.
00:13:24.040 --> 00:13:26.080
Who are these cameramen?
-Israeli Television.
00:13:26.160 --> 00:13:28.600
Israeli Television? Here, shove
the woman into the frame.
00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:31.280
Does that embrace
have any political significance?
00:13:44.640 --> 00:13:47.600
There are few people who can represent
00:13:47.760 --> 00:13:49.800
people whose story
they don't understand,
00:13:49.880 --> 00:13:51.240
whose experiences they don't understand,
00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:52.960
whose lives they don't understand.
00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.480
That's why we need women in the Knesset.
00:13:54.560 --> 00:13:57.960
There is something unreasonable and illogical
00:13:58.040 --> 00:14:02.360
about the fact that 50% of the population,
in the current Knesset,
00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:04.560
which is the 24th Knesset,
00:14:04.640 --> 00:14:06.560
are represented by only 27%.
00:14:06.640 --> 00:14:11.680
A society, a democratic regime
must aspire as much as possible
00:14:11.760 --> 00:14:13.880
that its parliament,
its house of representatives,
00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.480
represent to the fullest extent
the society from which it comes.
00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.200
But we want to go in.
-Ora, you go in.
00:14:37.680 --> 00:14:39.480
Look at me, is Shimon there?
-Yes.
00:14:39.560 --> 00:14:43.240
So tell him we want to see him,
in good spirits,
00:14:43.760 --> 00:14:47.720
we won't barge in,
we'll do it nicely. -Boaz.
00:14:47.800 --> 00:14:51.280
You're a good guy.
-We don't want to force our way in.
00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:55.240
Just like the doctor's office, there's a line
outside the Ha'Avoda party Arrangements Committee.
00:14:57.040 --> 00:14:59.800
All of you? -Yes.
-No, one by one. -I don't have two minutes.
00:14:59.880 --> 00:15:01.560
Then how many? Three?
00:15:01.640 --> 00:15:04.680
I'll see two MKs, three at the most.
00:15:05.800 --> 00:15:07.400
Ada, you go in.
00:15:07.520 --> 00:15:09.360
Ada, the young generation.
00:15:09.640 --> 00:15:14.160
The five-member Appointments Committee
decides who will serve in the Knesset.
00:15:14.920 --> 00:15:16.360
Once, everything was decided
by the Arrangements Committee.
00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:21.560
There was a group of self-proclaimed
important people,
00:15:21.920 --> 00:15:23.480
that decided who was in and who was out.
00:15:23.560 --> 00:15:26.040
The longer you had been a branch member,
00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:31.480
if you had excellent
wheeling and dealing skills,
00:15:31.560 --> 00:15:36.200
you made it close enough
to the decision-making table
00:15:36.280 --> 00:15:41.160
in order to become a Knesset member
because the Committee chose you.
00:15:41.280 --> 00:15:45.080
20th on the list. What do you think?
-18th, not 20th
00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:48.160
on the Ha'Avoda party list.
00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:51.000
Many members are dissatisfied.
00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:53.360
We hope that you'll be prime minister.
We don't care...
00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.080
Shimon Peres can be pleased
with his achievement.
00:15:56.160 --> 00:15:58.240
His list of party candidates
00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:59.920
was unanimously approved.
00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:02.880
But here,
because of the Arrangements Committee,
00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.320
many were deprived.
00:16:04.760 --> 00:16:08.280
We demand at least 25% of the top seats
00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:11.720
on the Ha'Avoda list of candidates
00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:15.200
for the Knesset, for the local authorities,
and for the Histadrut.
00:16:15.280 --> 00:16:18.240
We demand that this be anchored
in the constitution
00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:23.360
whereby any list without at least 25% women
will be disqualified,
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.840
and any institution without
25
Distributor: First Hand Films
Length: 54 minutes
Date: 2022
Genre: Expository
Language: Hebrew / English subtitles
Grade: College, Adults
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Not available
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