Thirty-seven women expect to run for mayor or head of local councils in municipal elections to be held on Oct. 22, while dozens more will try for council membership. If only a quarter of the contestants for the various positions will be elected, the results will still be considered a real revolution regarding the representation of women in local politics that is currently controlled by men.

Even according to pessimistic assessments, female representation in the local authorities will rise in the gamut of positions involved. But even now, the very fact that so many women are in the race points to a dramatic change on two levels: in the growing desire of women to influence the local arena and in the transformation of women into a sought-after brand in this arena, as part of the effect created by the social-justice protest movement in the summer of 2011.

The flowering of women’s participation in local politics — ushered in by the Hebrew New Year of 5774 which started on Sept. 6 — joins the positive trend that was also registered in national politics: 27 female Knesset members were chosen in the general elections of January 2013, thus setting an all-time record. To this, we add an additional achievement that I note here, even though it began in the previous Knesset: three women are heads of parties. Tzipi Livni, chairwoman of the Hatnua Party, Shelly Yachimovich, chairwoman of the Labor Party, and Zehava Gal-On, chairwoman of the Meretz Party.

Livni holds a key role in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as justice minister, as the person in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians and as a member of the inner diplomatic security cabinet. In another arena, Yachimovich wages an impressive holding-defense battle vis-a-vis a coalition of men who united to depose her in the November primaries. Gal-On succeeded in rejuvenating a party that was on the verge of disappearing from the political map, and was led by men in recent years. Now the polls predict 12 mandates for Meretz.