The Women's Party was a minor political party in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

Background

The party was established prior to the 1977 elections

Israeli legislative election, 1977

The Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May 1977. For the first time in Israeli political history, the right-wing, led by Likud, won the election, ending almost 30 years of rule by the left-wing Alignment and its predecessor, Mapai...

, with the founders including Israeli-American Marcia Freedman

Marcia Freedman

Marcia Freedman is an American-Israeli activist on behalf of peace, women's rights, and gay rights. In the early 1970s she helped create and lead the feminist movement in Israel...

. Freedman had been an MK for Ratz in the eighth Knesset

Israeli legislative election, 1973

The Elections for the eighth Knesset were held on 31 December 1973. Voter turnout was 78.6%.-Results:1 Aryeh Eliav left the Alignment and merged with Ratz to form Ya'ad - Civil Rights Movement...

, but had broken away with Aryeh Eliav

Aryeh Eliav

Arie "Lova" Eliav, born Lev Lipschitz , , was an Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset.-Biography:...

 to form the Independent Socialist Faction

Independent Socialist Faction

The Independent Socialist Faction was a political party in Israel in the 1970s.-Background:The party was established on 27 January 1976, during the eighth Knesset, as the Social-Democratic Faction, when Aryeh Eliav and Marcia Freedman left Ya'ad – Civil Rights Movement. Prior to its creation,...

. Whilst the ISP chose to merge with several other small left-wing parties (Meri

Meri (political party)

Meri , lit. Israeli Radical Camp) was a small radical left-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in the 1960s as HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash by Uri Avnery, editor of HaOlam HaZeh.-History:...

, Moked

Moked

Moked was a left-wing political party in Israel.-Background:Moked came into existence during the seventh Knesset, when Maki merged with the Blue-Red Movement, which was unrepresented....

 and some Black Panthers

Israeli Black Panthers

The Black Panthers were an Israeli protest movement of second-generation Jewish immigrants from Middle Eastern countries. They were one of the first organizations in Israel with the mission of working for social justice for the Mizrahi Jews...

) to form the Left Camp of Israel

Left Camp of Israel

The Left Camp of Israel was a left-wing political party in Israel. It was also known as Sheli , an acronym for Peace for Israel .-Background:...

, Freedman decided to set up a new feminist

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

 party to fight the election.

However, the new party won only 5,674 votes and failed to cross the electoral threshold

Election threshold

In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...

 of 1%, subsequently disappearing. Freedman turned her attentions to charity, helping to found the women's centre Kol HaIsha (Voice of the Woman) in 1979, and returned to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1981.

In the 1992 Knesset elections

Israeli legislative election, 1992

Elections for the thirteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June 1992. The result was a victory for the left, led by Yitzhak Rabin's Labor Party, though their win was at least partially due to several small right-wing parties narrowly failing to cross the electoral threshold and thus effectively...

the Women's Party won 2,886 votes (0.1%).