Plurality of Israelis think electing more women will harm politics — survey

A plurality of Israelis believe politics in their country will get worse if more elected officials were women, a Pew research center survey finds.

Thirty-three percent of respondents say Israeli politics would get worse if more women were elected into public office, compared to 32% who say politics would improve and 32% who say they would stay the same.

The Israeli percentage of those who think politics would get worse was the highest out of 24 countries surveyed, with only Kenya coming close to that figure with 26% of its respondents concurring with the 32% in Israel.

For the survey, Pew surveyed 30,861 people in 24 countries from February 20 to May 22, 2023 — before Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

The margin of error was 2 percentage points.

Only one woman remains at the helm of the professional echelon in any of the government’s 33 ministries.

Of the current 32 ministers in the government, five are women: Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, Settlement Affairs Minister Orit Strock, and Social Equality Minister May Golan.