JERUSALEM - The Knesset Committee has approved a bill to raise government funding to political parties where at least 30 percent of elected officials are women.
The bill was submitted by Knesset Member Etti Livni (Shinui), and passed by a wide margin.
Opposing the bill was the unorthodox combination of secularist Avraham Poraz and ultra-Orthodox politicians from United Torah Judaism and Shas.
Sources close to Livni said it was the first time in the party's history that one Shinui member (Poraz) voted against a bill submitted by another member of the party.
Poraz said he voted against the law because he opposes "reserved places" for women in politics.
In response, Livni said the Knesset has been trying to pass the law for the past ten years, and said the law is meant to provide equal opportunity for women in politics.
"Today, we succeeded, despite the stiff resistance of the Orthodox," she said.
Knesset Member Zahava Gal-on, one of the law's sumbitters, responded: "This is an important day for Israeli democracy. Our parliament has the lowest representation of women in the democratic world, and this vote is a step to correct that situation."
