Comptroller: Not enough female representation in local municipalities

In spite of the fact that, as of 2021, 74% of the employees of Israel’s local municipalities were women, their average wage was only 69% of that of male workers, according to a report by Israel’s state comptroller released Tuesday.

Israel was ranked 83rd out of 146 in terms of gender gaps in 2023 in the global gender-gap ranking. The higher the ranking, the greater the gender gap, and Israel has risen a staggering 23 spots since 2022, when it ranked 60th, according to the report, moving from the bottom half to the top half.

Given this, the indispensability and importance of taking action to promote gender equality and closing these gaps grew, it said.

Only 20% of those elected to office in local municipalities in 2024 were women, and only 26% of those in senior positions there were women as of 2022, said the report.

In 2024, only 6% of local municipalities (15 out of 257) were headed by women.

All gaps between men and women in local municipalities are deeper than they appear, given that women make up such a great proportion of municipal employees, said the report.

Gaps are more pronounced in periphery municipalities

The gaps are more pronounced in municipalities with worse socioeconomic status, those in the periphery, and ultra-Orthodox or non-Jewish ones, it said.

The Interior Ministry did not act to implement the recommendations of the 2018 public committee to advance women in municipal government, the comptroller noted, adding that the ministry did not publish directives for local municipalities on the need to create internal plans to promote appropriate gender representation.

The ministry also did not set up a plan to supervise and track whether laws relating to gender equality were followed, his report said.