A proposal to amend the Government Corporation Law so that
the chareidi sector will be fairly represented on the boards
of government corporations passed a preliminary reading last
week in the Knesset. The amendment had been proposed by MKs
Rabbi Moshe Gafni and Yuval Steinitz (Likud). The bill,
passed by a vote of 40-11, was supported by MKs from
religious parties, the Likud, National Union-Yisrael
Beiteinu, Herut, Am Echad, Hadash and the United Arab
List.
The proposal seeks to rectify discrimination on the boards of
government corporations where the chareidi sector is unfairly
represented. The proposal states that until an equitable
system of representation is found, government ministers will
do their best to appoint chareidi directors whenever
feasible.
In explanation of the proposal, Rabbis Gafni and Steinitz
stated: "In 1993 the law was amended in order to guarantee
representation for women in government corporations. A
proposal to guarantee equitable representation of the Arab
sector was also passed recently at a preliminary reading."
The purpose of the current proposal is to guarantee that the
chareidi sector also enjoys fair representation in the
management of government corporations.
