From Facebook to the High Court: Haredi Women's Legal and Public Journey to the Centres of Power

How did it all begin? (2012)

The struggle for Haredi women's right to political representation was not born in air-conditioned courtrooms, nor in the corridors of the Knesset; it was born out of a deep, daily sense of suffocation on the Haredi street.

In 2012, ahead of the elections to the 19th Knesset, the wall of silence cracked. A pointed protest page on social media, led by Esty Shushan, became within days the public campaign "Lo Nivcharot, Lo Bochrot" — "Not Elected, Not Voting". The message was direct, sharp and unprecedented: about half of the Haredi parties' voters are women. Women who carry the burden of earning a living, raising the children and keeping the home — yet at the moment of truth, on election day, are asked to cast a ballot for all-male lists in which they have no voice, no face and no right to stand.

The call to boycott the vote for as long as women are kept off the lists caused a violent tremor. For the first time the basic demand was put on the table: no votes for parties that exclude women. Out of that organising there grew, in 2015, the Nivcharot movement — the first Haredi women's association in Israel to set itself the goal of advancing equality, leadership and political representation for Haredi women in the Knesset, in local government and in every centre of decision-making.

The first front: breaking the constitutional barrier at the High Court (2015–2019)

It soon became clear that the exclusion of women was not merely an unwritten social norm but an injustice set down in black and white in the parties' own legal documents. Clause 6(a) of the constitution of the "Agudat Yisrael" party stated explicitly that a party member could only be a "man" alone.

On the eve of the elections to the 20th Knesset (2015), attorney Tamar Ben Porat filed HCJ 1823/15 against the Registrar of Parties and Agudat Yisrael. Because of social pressure and the severe sanctions on the Haredi street, the petition was filed at first as a public petition, but the Nivcharot movement mobilised for the campaign at once: we submitted a comprehensive position paper to the Attorney General, and around the proceedings a broad coalition of ten women's organisations came together (led by Itach-Maaki, the Rackman Center, the Center for Women's Justice, Kolech, the Israel Women's Network and others), alongside the Concord Center as amicus curiae.

In the historic hearings before an expanded panel headed by the President of the Supreme Court, Esther Hayut, with Justices Uzi Vogelman, Hanan Melcer, George Karra and Neal Hendel, the claim that this was an "internal religious matter" was rejected:

"The Knesset is not a synagogue, and Agudat Yisrael is not a party of Haredi men alone — but of Haredi men and Haredi women."

Following an order nisi and heavy judicial pressure, Agudat Yisrael was compelled to announce the deletion of the word "man" from clause 6(a) of its constitution. In January 2019 the proceedings closed in a victory of principle: the formal constitutional barrier was removed, and the High Court held that the legal path to admitting women to the party's ranks had been cleared.

From the written clause to a blocked reality: the shift to structural discrimination

The deletion of the clause from Agudat Yisrael's constitution, and similar declarations given in the matter of Shas, were a constitutional milestone — but on the ground, reality refused to change. The Haredi parties moved from declared discrimination to exclusion in practice ("de facto"):

• Haredi women who sought to register as party members met blanket refusal and locked doors.
• The parties argued in response that there was "no membership register", that "registration is not on the agenda", or relied on internal positions of the Councils of Torah Sages to block women from joining.

It was clear that removing the discriminatory wording from a constitution is not enough while the gates stay bolted. The struggle had to move to a new stage: from a demand to change a constitution, to an uncompromising civil claim for the right to register and to stand for election in practice.

Where the struggle stands today: the legal arena and the precedent of 2025–2026

In recent years (2022–2026) the Nivcharot movement, together with a series of Haredi plaintiffs and with legal representation by Dr Hagai Kalai and attorney Adiya Sheinwald, has been leading a front of precedent-setting civil claims in the district courts against Shas and Agudat Yisrael:

1. The historic judgment against Shas, and the fight to enforce it (CC 31083-08-22)

A group of Haredi women led by Raaya Mari and the Nivcharot association sued the Shas party over its absolute refusal to admit them as party members.

On 24 December 2025 a landmark judgment of the Jerusalem District Court (Hon. Judge Tamar Bazak-Rappaport) was handed down:

• The court held unequivocally that Shas has no authority whatsoever to refuse to admit members, men or women, to its ranks.
• It held that a party is not a private club but a public body enjoying vast funding from the public purse, and that the party's leadership must act immediately to remove the obstacles and create equal conditions for submitting an application for membership.

The campaign as it stands today (2026):

Instead of implementing the judgment, Shas chose to play for time and announced the establishment of an "internal committee" with no timetable and no clear powers. Approaches by Nivcharot to the Registrar of Parties and to the State Comptroller were met with the claim that they hold no direct supervisory authority over internal proceedings.

Accordingly, at this very moment (August 2026), Nivcharot is pursuing enforcement proceedings in court by way of applications to set binding deadlines and impose sanctions, to ensure that the judgment is enforced in practice ahead of the coming election campaigns.

2. The claim against Agudat Yisrael (Gruenberg et al. v. Agudat Yisrael)

In parallel, a claim is proceeding in the Tel Aviv District Court against Agudat Yisrael. The party tried to move the matter to its own internal rabbinical court, which rejected the women on halakhic and procedural grounds of "no membership register". The Nivcharot movement maintains that this is improper discrimination made in bad faith, designed to perpetuate the exclusion of women, and the proceedings are now at an advanced stage towards a ruling.

The change in consciousness, and the municipal front

The legal struggle is only the spearhead of a far broader cultural and social revolution:

1. A breakthrough in local government: Haredi women no longer wait for approval from the old machinery. In recent years Haredi women have run on independent local lists and for city councils (in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Ramat Gan and other towns), and have proved that the public is ready for attentive, professional leadership by women.
2. A shift in consciousness inside the community: A conversation that began as a taboo has become a lively mainstream. Haredi women today lead in academia, in the health system, in the media, in the economy and in public service. The understanding that Haredi women's voices must be heard has taken hold widely within Haredi society itself.
3. Training the next generation of leaders: The Nivcharot movement runs leadership programmes, social-entrepreneurship development and mentoring for hundreds of Haredi women across the country, who are demanding a part in shaping the policy that touches their children's education, their health, their welfare and their future.

Not stopping until representation is full

The journey that began in 2012 with a handful of women and a single post has become a historic movement that cannot be stopped. The deletion of the discriminatory clauses from the constitutions, and the binding judgments handed down by the courts, are unprecedented achievements — but the struggle will not end until we see Haredi women sitting around the decision-makers' table in every party, every committee and every authority.

At Nivcharot we will go on working in every arena — in the courts, in the community, in the media and on the ground — because the right to vote and to be elected is not a privilege; it is the foundation of justice, of human dignity, and of a just and whole society.