Israel

Overnight, Israel saw the number of women in the government shrink from 24 seats to just eight. Who are the women of Israel's new government?

Despite making up just over 50% of Israeli society today, women will not find themselves equally represented in the soon-to-be-formed government coalition, with just eight women having secured themselves a place in the 65-seat majority coalition. Or, to put it into percentages, just 12.31% of the new coalition will be women.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has appointed Meretz Knesset member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi as consul general in Shanghai, sparking an outcry from critics.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has appointed Knesset member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi of Meretz as Israel’s new consul general to Shanghai in a milestone for women. Zoabi will be the first Arab woman to be appointed to one of Israel’s top diplomatic posts.

A projected 30 women will enter the Israeli legislature, a record for an Election Day, but it appears female representation in parliament will remain roughly the same for the 24th Knesset as in past sessions.

Women running for the Knesset have to overcome not only voters' gender stereotypes, but a media landscape that is heavily skewed in men's favor.

One was 3 years old when she trekked out of her remote African village with her parents, ultimately bound for Israel, and another had to break loose of the strictures of her insular ultra-Orthodox Jewish world. A third had to win over the spiritual leaders of her community, and the fourth has endured a stream of insults and other abuse as a conservative Muslim wearing a headscarf.

It would appear that women in Israel have broken through the glass ceiling. Women have filled positions of prime minister, foreign minister, deputy defense minister, justice minister, Bank of Israel governor, state comptroller, Supreme Court president, as well as of lower courts, Knesset speaker, university president, chair of the board of directors of leading banks and more.