Haarertz, 21/7/2005

By Ruth Sinai

The government will be required to include women in any group appointed for peace negotiations or to design domestic, foreign or security policy, according to a groundbreaking law passed by the Knesset yesterday.

To win the cabinet's support, the law's proponents, MKs Yuli Tamir (Labor) and Eti Livni (Shinui) had to give up the demand for a minimum of 25-percent representation by women in the relevant bodies. Instead, the wording agreed on was "suitable expression will be given to the representation of women from a variety of population groups, given the circumstances."

A coalition of Jewish and Arab women's groups, headed by the Isha L'Isha feminist organization in Haifa, is working on a system by which women would be appointed to negotiating groups: Whenever a negotiating team or committee is appointed, its makeup will be reported to the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women in the Prime Minister's Office. If the authority believes that women are not properly represented, it can ask that this be corrected.