The Board of Deputies launched its new gender equality plan on Tuesday after internal elections in May resulted in an all-male honorary officer team for the first time in 15 years.

The previous president, Marie van der Zyl was only the second woman to take up the role.  

The result of latest elections, which occurred even though an equal number of men and women ran for the role of president, prompted the creation of the gender equality plan, an initiative designed to make BoD more inclusive and representative of its constituents.

The announcement comes shortly after two women – former Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman and Liberal Judaism Chair Karen Newman – were selected to be independent chairs of the Board’s plenary sessions, a role which was previously held by the president.

The new programme was established after BoD President Phil Rosenberg received valuable input over the course of two meetings with female deputies during his first month in office.

Using data from an internal survey of women involved in the organisation, as well as the recommendations of the Jewish Leadership Council’s 2012 Commission on Women in Jewish Leadership, the honorary officers and the deputies concluded that a gender equality plan was necessary to maintain a standard of women in leadership roles at the Board.

Board of Deputies' elected officers: (from left), treasurer Ben Crowne, vice-president Andrew Gilbert, president Phil Rosenberg, vice-president Adrian Cohen and vice-president Jeremy Michelson. It is the first all-male team of honorary officers at the Board in 15 years (Photo: the Board of Deputies)

The plan, which is a first for the organisation, consists of five points: visible leadership; leadership pipeline; deputy representation; culture and removing other barriers.

The provisions seek to ensure that “decisions are made in the interests of the whole Jewish population, and not just the male half of it”, and address the challenges associated, including the risk that “if women do not see themselves mirrored in the organisation’s leadership”, they may not put themselves forward for roles in future.

According to the plan, part of the challenge of equal representation at different levels of the organisation relates to the lack of female deputies as a whole, with only 31per cent of deputies being women in the last triennium.

While this figure had increased to 35 per cent by August 2024, the Board’s aim is to bring it up to 50 per cent over the next three years. 

“Our internal election results in May may have given us an all-male honorary officer team for the first time in 15 years, but I am determined that the voices of women are heard are every level in our organisation,” said Rosenberg.

He added that many of its provisions, including changing the workplace culture, “will make the organisation better for everyone.”

“We have already started implementing many of its recommendations, including the appointment of two brilliant new independent chairs for our meetings, and I am delighted that women deputies have put themselves forward for around 50 per cent of positions in this weekend's divisional elections. Gender equality is a very high priority for our team".

Every three years, deputies elect five honorary officers, including a president, senior vice president, two vice presidents and a treasurer.

The honorary officer team elected in May, while all-male, included the youngest ever president, the first president from a part-Mizrachi background, two officers under the age of 40, representation from Progressive communities and from the regions and a vice president who has a registered disability.