Supreme Court Dismisses Adalah's Petition Seeking Equal Representation for Arab Citizens of Israel on Boards of Directors of Governmental Companies

Yesterday, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Adalah in December 2001 demanding equal representation for Arabs citizens of Israel - women and men - on the boards of directors of governmental companies, in accordance with the 1993 and 2000 amendments to the Governmental Companies Law (1975). The petition named as respondents Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and several other government ministers.

In the 16-page decision, signed by Chief Justice Aharon Barak and Justices Tova Strassberg-Cohen and Izhak Englard, the Supreme Court accepted the state's commitment to improve efforts to appoint Arab citizens of Israel to the boards of directors of governmental companies. The Court also accepted the state's argument that this process would require considerable time and effort, and that it was impossible to say precisely how much time would be needed.

Despite the fact that Adalah included a list of over 70 qualified professionals in its petition, the Court agreed with the state's contention that it is difficult to find suitable Arab candidates for board positions. The Court ruled that it is the responsibility of the government to seek out qualified Arab candidates for appointment to the boards of directors of governmental companies, and stated that it would be open to further petitions on the matter if the state does not fulfill its promises.

In the petition, Adalah argued that the Court should recognize Arab women citizens of Israel as a distinct, protected sub-group, as they are subject to compound discrimination on the basis of sex and national belonging. Thus, Adalah argued that government ministries should apply greater efforts to increasing their representation on the boards of directors of governmental corporations, and the Court should examine these efforts applying a strict scrutiny test. Adalah relied on case law from the United States to support this argument. Confronted with this argument for the first time, the Court refused to rule on the question, and stated that the argument was complicated and needed to be reviewed in the future.

Adalah intends to prepare new, updated lists of qualified candidates, and to present these lists to government ministries and governmental companies. If the companies' hiring committees continue to ignore this issue and refuse to appoint suitable candidates - Arab women and men - Adalah will file further petitions on behalf of these candidates.

Responding to yesterday's decision, Attorney Hassan Jabareen, the General Director of Adalah and the author of the petition, stated: "The data that Adalah brought before the Court is extremely clear, showing deep discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel, women and men. We are surprised that despite this fact the Court relied on the state's promise to implement governmental policy."

Background: Arab Representation on the Boards of Directors of Governmental Companies

Amendment six to the Governmental Companies Law, passed by the Knesset in 1993, mandates equal representation for all women in Israel on the boards of directors of government companies. In 1994, as a result of a petition filed by the Israel Women's Network (IWN) seeking the enforcement of amendment six, the Supreme Court ruled that women must be afforded appropriate representation on the boards of government companies.

Since the amendment of the Governmental Companies Law and the IWN petition, the percentage of women in those positions has increased significantly. Arab women citizens of Israel, however, have not benefited from this increase in representation. As of December 2002, only six Arab women citizens of Israel held positions on the boards of directors of government companies, amounting to less than 1% of the total members of all government company boards. In comparison, 225 Israeli Jewish women held board positions with these companies as of December 2002; they accounted for 33.5% of the total members.

In 2000, the Knesset passed amendment 11 to the Governmental Companies Law, which mandates that adequate representation will be given to the Arab population on the boards of directors of governmental companies. Despite this new legislation, Arab citizens of Israel in general have not made any significant gains in representation on the boards of these companies. As of December 2002, Arab citizens of Israel in total held only 37 out of 671 positions (about 5.5%) on the boards of directors of governmental companies. The lack of representation exists in spite of the fact that a large number of Arab men and women meet the criteria for appointment to these positions, based on Population Registry data on Arab university graduates.

See Adalah News Update, "Adalah Demands Affirmative Action for Arab Women in Governmental Corporate Boards," 21 December 2001.