Kahana demands more women on religious councils
In previous panels, 17% of members were women
Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina) has demanded municipal authorities and local rabbinates increase the number of women on local religious councils.
In the past, members of the 132 religious councils throughout the country have been overwhelmingly male. Kahana is seeking to address this situation given that the council’s services and operations affect women and men equally.
In the religious councils established between the 2013-2018 municipal elections, 17% of the council members were women.
But in 2016, the attorney-general insisted that women constitute at least 20%-33% of the council
members, depending on the size of the council. This decision became operative after the 2018 municipal elections.
The selection of religious council members must be completed within a year of the last municipal elections. But due to the two-year political crisis and four general elections, the councils could not be established, resulting in most of them being run by appointees of the Religious Services Ministry.
Kahana is now seeking to reform the religious councils. Local municipal authorities and local rabbinates must comply with the attorney-general’s instructions on female representation, he told them in a letter this week.
“The local municipal authority is asked to give appropriate representation to women on the religious council... and as far as possible, nominate qualified women for the position of chair of the council,” he added.
Local religious councils run religious services as branches of the Religious Services Ministry in their jurisdiction. They provide various religious functions, including marriage registration, kashrut supervision, burial oversight and mikvaot management.
Members are selected by the local municipal council, which nominates 45% of council members. The religious services minister nominates 45% of the members, and the local municipal rabbi nominates 10% of them.
The law gives a veto to all three institutions. If there is a deadlock, as frequently happens, the minister can select an appointee to run the council.
Local religious councils are funded jointly by the local municipal authority, 60%, and the Religious Services Ministry, 40%.