Educational Media Reviews Online

The Elected is a film in three parts that examines the struggles women members of parliament (MPs) elected to the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) face in a political world rife with misogyny and machismo. Each film is approximately 54 minutes long. The first segment, entitled “Why Politics Now” provides a history of female suffrage in Israel, the challenges women faced to gain acceptance, and the right to vote. It also explores women MPs’ attempts to find their place in the many political parties found within the Israeli government. Film two, titled “The Parliamentarians” offers a history of women who served in the Knesset during the 1950s including Golda Meir and Rachel Cohen-Kagan, two individuals who had very different political trajectories. This film also chronicles Israeli MP women from all points on the political spectrum who unified to push laws that protected women from domestic violence and sexual harassment. The final segment, called “Women at the Top” examines the small number of women who have made it to the upper echelons of government, positions almost always held by men. An Israeli woman has never held the position of defense minister or finance minister. In 2009, 35 years after Golda Meir resigned as prime minister, Tzipi Livni ran for the post and won but could not form a government as ultra-Orthodox party members would not sit with her. Although Meir was the last and only female Israeli prime minister, this final film ends positively by noting that a record number of women were serving as ministers or MPs in the 2021 Knesset.

All three films include interviews with various MPs, party leaders, journalists, and scholars. These individuals provide historical background, a variety of political perspectives, and reveal the many challenges women politicians faced in a male-dominated sphere frequently influenced by men with war or defense backgrounds. Current and retired female politicians recount their own personal stories of why they entered politics. Politicians include Arabic women, women of color, and multi-generational groups of women who have all struggled for acceptance in a political arena that, one interviewee notes, has “steel walls rather than glass ceilings.” The Elected includes archival footage that spans over 70 years and sobering statistics. One learns that Israel ranks 61st globally in female representation. Women constitute 51% of the population but barely have 25% of seats in the Knesset. Since the founding of Israel in 1948 only 31 women have ever been appointed government ministers as of 2021.

The Elected raises many issues related to Israeli women and their roles. It presents the status of Israeli women serving in politics and in society as tenuous despite the image of equality outsiders often see with women serving in the military or in government positions. Although numerous changes have ameliorated the situation for Israeli women, many of these improvements are fairly recent and have only occurred within the past 30 years. These films underscore that in the political arena, state affairs have always taken precedence over women’s affairs. Ultra-Orthodox parties prohibit women candidates despite a recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling that struck this ban down. All-male rabbinical courts continue to hold significant political sway that impedes improving conditions for women in all areas of society. Female politicians who want to make changes or improvements often must toe their party’s line to the detriment of these efforts. The Elected also includes cringeworthy news interviews from just 20 years ago where reporters ask female MPs questions related to their appearance or other inappropriate questions that a male MP would never have to address. The filmmakers also provide viewers with disquieting photos of Knesset members over various decades that frequently only include one woman amongst a sea of male MPs.

The three films that comprise this title offer an interesting glimpse into the complicated domain of Israeli politics with its myriad of political parties and where women hold few positions. Women who do serve as MPs often have mercurial relationships with their male counterparts and face many challenges to earn respect or make change. In Hebrew with English subtitles, all three segments of The Elected are available to stream on Docuseek. This title is recommended for college courses in such disciplines as Contemporary World History, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, and Women’s Studies.

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