Women Running for Mayor

By NETTY C. GROSS
An article in Issue 11, September 15, 2008 of The Jerusalem Report. To subscribe to The Jerusalem Report click here. A record 30 women are running for mayor or head of regional council in the municipal elections to be held in 245 localities in November. Most of the 30 are active in local politics and have served as members of local government councils, and they include Israel's three incumbent women mayors. In local government elections, voters cast two ballots - one for mayor and the other for a party slate for the municipal council. A candidate needs to win 45 percent of votes cast to become mayor or regional council head and begin the process of forming a coalition. Female candidates include Ahlama Peretz, wife of Knesset Member and former defense minister Amir Peretz (Labor), in embattled Sderot and former Knesset member Mali Polishuk, in Ra'anana. The three incumbents running are the first woman mayor of Herzliya, Yael German of the left-wing Meretz party, who was elected in 1998; Netanya's Miriam Fierberg-Ikar (Likud), also first elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2003; and Flora Shoshan of Mitzpe Ramon (Independent), a sister of Amir Peretz and wife of Sami Shoshan, the previous mayor who was forced to step down last year because of budgetary problems. Feminist activist Sarah Segev says women are particularly suited for mayoral jobs because local government is concerned with issues that women "anyway deal with," such as education,social welfare, child and elderly care. Even so, she says no national parties gets high marks for promoting women's electoral presence and besides her organization, WePower, few help with fundraising. Ronit Antler, a councilwoman from Metula, in the Upper Galilee, agrees with Segev. Though she withdrew her candidacy for head of the regional council for personal reasons, she is delighted to see other women running. "women should absolutely run. We have some marvelous candidates. Women care more deeply about quality-of-life issues," which is what municipal government "should be about," she says. A non-partisan activist group, Segev's WePower is devoted to promoting women's participation in politics on the national and local levels. Segev credits the organization's work in gender education in politics, including courses and seminars at Tel Aviv University, with galvanizing the relatively large number of women candidates this year. An article in Issue 11, September 15, 2008 of The Jerusalem Report. To subscribe to The Jerusalem Report click here.