NIVCHAROT · SINCE 2012

Haredi women for representation, equality and voice.

From an online protest, to the ground, to public consciousness, to a seat at the table

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IN BRIEF

Haredi women in the Haredi parties - not in the Knesset, and not on local councils

Years without a single woman elected to the Knesset on a Haredi party list - 1948 to today

350,000

Haredi women of voting age - none of them has a woman representing her in the party she votes for

Knesset seats held by the Haredi parties in the 25th Knesset - all of them men

The Haredi population numbers about 1.45 million, some 14% of Israel (Haredi Society Yearbook 2025); about half of it is under 16. The Supreme Court ordered Agudat Yisrael to amend its bylaws, but membership is still not possible, and two petitions remain pending.

Our purpose

An alternative Haredi leadership,
of women and men alike

We are not asking to replace Haredi leadership but to widen it: a leadership women take part in, equally and respectfully. Three lines of work lead there.

01Line

Raising awareness

Turning representation from a taboo into a conversation. The means: the podcast Haredit Meduberet, writing in the Haredi and general press, conferences and community circles.

→ The podcast

02Line

Training leadership

HaNivcheret, our leadership program: nine cohorts since 2018, about 20 activists in each. Alumnae carry the ideas onward and build the partnerships that widen Haredi feminist discourse.

→ The program

03Line

Law, policy and halakha

From the petitions against exclusionary party bylaws, through position papers and Knesset lobbying, to clarifying what halakha itself says about women in politics.

→ Advocacy

From 2012 to today

→ Full timeline

2012

The "No Voice, No Vote" Facebook page launches ahead of the 19th Knesset elections.

2015

From protest movement to registered NGO, and the legal battle over party bylaws begins.

2019

The Supreme Court orders Agudat Yisrael to remove every barrier to women’s membership.

2026

HaNivcheret 9 meets, the alumnae network grows, and the podcast reaches new audiences.

A voice. A vote. A seat.

A monthly standing order for the podcast, the leadership program or the whole operation, with a reward that ships to your door.

Support tracks Take part

Nivcharot in the media

→ All coverage

Mar 23, 2025"A Day Will Come and It Will Happen": When Will We See Women in Haredi Parties?An Eliezer Hiyon article (March 2025), a decade-later retrospective: Nivcharot's early wins forcing bylaw changes, alongside the fact that no woman has yet been elected to the Knesset from a Haredi party. The piece notes movement at the municipal level — 14 Haredi women recently ran in local elections, two won.July 23, 2017Two ultra-Orthodox feminists challenge Israel's political landscapeA wide Washington Post profile by Ruth Eglash on Esty Shushan and Estee Rieder-Indursky, who over the five years before publication led the push to get women onto Shas and United Torah Judaism candidate lists — parties holding 13 Knesset seats and three ministries between them, all held by men. Shushan: "As Haredi women, we face many battles. It took me awhile to realize that fighting those battles starts up there." Rieder-Indursky: "This change will happen, the question is just when... because it has happened all over the world." The piece also documents personal cost: a court order to keep Shushan's daughter enrolled in her school, and Rieder-Indursky's own son begging her to stop.Oct 28, 2016High Court Orders Agudat Yisrael to Explain the Party Bylaw Clause Discriminating Against WomenA Yarden Skop article (October 2016) covers a conditional order requiring Agudat Yisrael to justify, within 75 days, why Section 6 of its bylaws — defining a member as "every Jewish man... who observes Torah and mitzvot" — shouldn't be struck. Justice Uzi Fogelman, who signed the order: "It is clear that a Haredi woman would find it difficult to stand before the party and be exposed." The article's body is paywalled beyond these details.Feb 9, 2015It's Dangerous What We're Doing HereAn extensive investigative segment on Ilana Dayan's flagship newsmagazine "Uvda" (Channel 12), by Ben Shani (February 2015), following Shushan, Esty Rieder Indursky, Racheli Ivenboim, and Tali Farkash through Mea Shearim and Bnei Brak in their fight for representation. The piece frames the campaign as "a real war."