Get email notification for articles from Gabrielle Briner Follow Jun. 1, 2021 1:55 PM A scandal at a leading Jewish organization in Melbourne has once again thrust the issue of equal gender representation in the top levels of Australia’s Jewish community into the spotlight – an aspiration female community members have been working tirelessly to achieve for years. Last December, Keren Zelwer was a leading candidate to join the executive of community organization Mizrachi Australia. In a secret ballot, however, she was unanimously rejected by the executive members, all of whom were male. The decision created a strong public backlash. Local Jewish community organizations, including NCJWA (Vic), a separate arm of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia that operates independently in Victoria, slammed Mizrachi Australia (the umbrella body for religious-Zionist Jewry in Australia).