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Discussion in the Knesset’s Constitution Committee: Underrepresentation of Women on Boards of Directors

In a discussion held on March 30, 2025, in the Knesset’s Constitution Committee regarding the “Bill to Amend the Companies Law: Corporate Governance in Public Companies Without a Controlling Shareholder,” Dr. Keren Bar Hava presented Zulat’s position and introduced the results of a survey conducted by herself and Prof. Orly Sade. Zulat’s position, expressed in a paper submitted to the committee, is that the bill continues the existing trend of current legislation, which does not ensure significant representation for women on Boards of Directors, except for the symbolic appointment of one woman. Thus, instead of taking advantage of this historic opportunity to change reality – the proposal perpetuates inequality.

As part of the survey, a short questionnaire was distributed in a WhatsApp group of 600 Israeli female directors, to which about 106 women responded: 77% of the female directors supported mandatory legislation as a vital step to increase the number of women on Boards of Directors, compared to only 21% who preferred soft solutions such as “Adopt or disclose”.

Dr. Bar Hava said in the discussion:

“The forum, associated with the Directors’ Association, includes 700 women, senior members of Boards of directors in the country, and unanimously all of them said that there must be a change to more than one female director. There is no other way. Even today when I am called to Boards of Directors, after 18 years, even in non-profits, they always tell me, ‘We needed one woman,’ it still hasn’t disappeared. It still exists, and it must change. In Europe it has changed, there is no other way for women to advance other than this way.

There was an incredible response from women among senior female directors, because it really interested them. Never before have so many women answered a survey for me so quickly. 77 percent support legislative change, and the rest said, if there is to be no legislation, then at least let’s introduce ‘Adopt or Disclose’ – at least let there be some written statement: in our Board of Directors, there are 30%, hopefully 40% women, at least to disclose something, to understand that it must be.”

Watch (Hebrew, no subtitles):

 

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Dr. Maha Sabbah Karkabi

 

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tel Aviv University (2015), a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London (2015-2016), a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Sociology at Tel Aviv University (2016-2017), and a postdoctoral fellowship Ph.D. at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2018-2020).
Dr. Maha Karbahi’s areas of interest focus on the connection between social change, family behavior, and gender inequality in societies in the process of change and specifically in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. Her research draws attention to the study of family life and employment, using a combined “ethnic lens” and “gender lens” and paying attention to the perspective of Palestinian Arab women, a group characterized by intersections between multiple marginal locations, which over the years has remained hidden from the research eye. Dr. Karkabi-Sabah’s research is published in professional journals and chapters in scientific books that are considered pioneers in family research, work, and gender equality.

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Prof. Frances Raday

Professor Emeritus in the Lieberman Chair in Labor Law, in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and serves as a full professor in the College of Management’s academic track, where she also serves as chair of the graduate program and as honorary president of the Concord Center for International Law Absorption. Radai was a member of a working group of the UN Human Rights Council on discrimination against women. In addition, she is a prominent and feminist human rights activist.

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Dr. Rawia Aburabia 

Faculty member of Sapir Academic College’s School of Law, received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research deals with the interface between law, gender, minorities, and human rights. Has published in leading journals on the subject of the matrimonial laws pertaining to Muslim women in Israel. Her book Under the Law, Outside Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law is expected to be published as part of the Gender Series of Kibbutz Meuhad Publishing House.

Dr. Aburabia has extensive experience in international human rights and public law. She has worked as a jurist for the Association for Civil Right and has been invited as a specialist to address such international forums as the United Nations and the European Parliament on the subject of indigenous communities and minority rights. She has interned with Human Rights Watch in Washington DC, and has been a member of the executive board of Amnesty International. In 2018, she was selected by the magazine Globes as one of the 40 most promising young persons in Israel under the age of 40.

 

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Ron Kessler

With over two decades of experience in the field of digital content, Ron has participated in numerous political and social campaigns. He helped run the digital activity of senior public officials, and worked in various NGOs. Ron is a fundamentally optimistic man, who believes that Israel can be changed and so can people. Lives in Tel Aviv.