In 1978, the municipal electoral system was reformed and personalized, so that residents would use two ballots: one for the political party and the other for the position of mayor.
Female representation has been consistently widespread; according to the statistics of 1998, 88.8% of the Jewish city/town councils included women.
In the Arab villages and cities, women formed 0.4% of the total number of elected council members and mayors.
In addition, WEPOWER ("Ken"), an Israeli NGO that was formed in 2000, proactively promotes women's leadership to the highest levels of decision-making and elected position.
Many of today's female MKs, mayors and council members are alumni of the WEPOWER training programs.