November Edition 2020

5 Israel set to boost the role of women in judiciary and business The role of women at the heart of a country’s judiciary was recently put under the spotlight after the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the Senate’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett as her replacement. But while the U.S. wrestles with these fundamental issues, we look at how Israel’s own women feature at the heart of its judicial and wider landscape and how it compares. Having elected one of the world’s first female prime ministers - Golda Meir, back in 1969, how far has Israel actually come in the representation of women? On the surface, there are positive landmarks. Unusually by global standards, the current and previous President of Israel’s Supreme Court – through luck or design - have both been women - Esther Hayut replacing Miriam Naor just over three years ago, in October 2017. In total, Israel has four female Supreme Court judges - the same number as the U.S. has ever had, with the first female to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’ Connor appointed by President Reagan in 1981. Today, Israel has the same number as Canada , surpasses the number in Australia and the UK , whose own first female President, Lady Brenda Marjorie Hale,was appointed only in 2017. By then, Israel was about to start on its third female President,with its first, Dorit Beinisch appointed in 2006. Furthermore, by this point, Israel had already appointed two female Ministers of Justice: Tzipi Livni - serving three times - and more recently, Ayelet Shaked in 2015. With the planned retirement of Supreme Court Justice, Hanan Melcer, in the Spring of 2021, Israel is soon to debate the appointment of its own replacement. Israeli law firm, Tadmor Levy & Co. is at the heart of this matter, representing the Israel Women’s Network in a petition to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court in those round of nominations. The last time this was tried – two and half years ago, no woman was selected. Will this time be different? We watch closely.