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Good practice Imported

Israel's Minimum Female-Director Rule for Public Company Boards

Israel · Tel Aviv · See the Israel profile · See the Tel Aviv profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 67% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Israel's 1999 Companies Law was among the world's first to require at least one woman on every public company board. 25 years on, female CEOs fell from 8.1% (2018) to 3.5% (2023), showing a floor-level quota alone does not lift women into top leadership.

180 women directors
Women serving as directors in surveyed companies (2024)
8.1 %
Female CEOs in the Israeli economy (2018)
3.5 %
Female CEOs in the Israeli economy (2023)
almost 15 %
Female board chairs (2018)
5.6 %
Female board chairs (2023)
27 %
Women's board representation in the finance sector (2024)
35 %
Voluntary industry target for women on boards floated by business bodies (2021)
Israel's Minimum Female-Director Rule for Public Company Boards

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Knesset (Companies Law 5759-1999) / Israel Securities Authority
Period
1999-present
Keywords
corporate governance, board diversity, gender quotas, capital markets

Context

Israel's Companies Law 5759-1999 requires every publicly traded company to have at least one director of the under-represented gender on its board; non-compliant firms can face fines or be barred from paying directors. It was one of the earliest binding board-gender rules in the world, alongside Norway's later and far stronger 40% quota (2003/2008).

Results

A 2024 survey of 110 Israeli public companies found 180 women serving as directors, but the share of female CEOs in the Israeli economy fell from 8.1% in 2018 to just 3.5% in 2023, and female board chairs fell from almost 15% to 5.6% over the same period, according to Deloitte's annual gender-in-management report. Women's representation is highest in finance (27%) and lowest in traditional industry. In 2021 Israeli business bodies floated a voluntary target of 35% women on boards; the Union of Directors' own chief later said self-regulation had failed.

Conclusions

The case is instructive precisely because it shows that a legally mandated floor, without deeper pipeline or leadership measures, can coexist with a declining share of women in the most senior corporate roles.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)

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Data sources

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