The Gender Gap, Women’s Issues and The Vote
The aim of this study was to explore how women in Israel can increase their political power as a group and advance issues important to them as women. Israeli women usually have not thought or acted as a distinct political group with their own concerns and representatives, because women’s issues have not been injected into the political process and the role of women in politics has remained so limited. The result is that there has been little to no “gender gap” between the voting behavior of men and women in Israel and scant recognition of women as an interest group. Indeed, even research on women’s political attitudes in Israel has been rare.
However, the findings of this research show that the time is ripe for a change in this situation. While they have their own party, religious, and ethnic loyalties, Israeli women also have specific views of their own on important national issues. They would respond warmly to women running for political office and they are ready to reward politicians who advance the issues that concern them with their votes. The survey results thus show that women are now ready to make their voices heard by
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