Jerusalem Bus Operator Lifts Ban on Ads of Women Politicians

December 2, 2008

Israel's Supreme Court has ensured equal opportunities for women seeking election to public office following a petition by veteran NIF grantee Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Movement of the Movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel (Reform). The ruling, decided in the course of the Jerusalem Municipal elections last month, has major significance for the election campaign of Kadima Chair Tzipi Livni, and other women running in February's Knesset elections.

IRAC appealed to the Supreme Court in November several days before the Municipal Elections, after the Egged Bus company refused to place ads of the Yerushalmim council list on their buses because they contained pictures of women. Yerushalmim eventually won two seats on the city council.

One of the election ads that Jerusalem buses refused to display because it contained images of women.

Egged has always insisted on respecting the views of the city's ultra-Orthodox community by not displaying images of women in ads. But IRAC argued that allowing pictures of men in election ads, and not women, was unacceptable discrimination, which reduced the chances of women to be elected.

"The court took a severe view of the matter," explains Einat Hurwitz, Head of IRAC's Legal Department, who submitted the petition, "and even though there was less than 48 hours to the municipal elections, the justices ordered the Jerusalem bus operator to immediately put our ads on their vehicles."

"Our petition has had a direct influence on the upcoming Knesset elections," adds Hurwitz. "The Justices said that their ruling related to all elections and that they did not want to have to discuss the matter again before the Knesset elections."