As a result, say women's groups and Knesset members, it will almost certainly be more difficult to pass women's rights legislation.

"Let's face it. The public agenda is set by those in power, and we do not have appropriate representation in the government," says Leslie Sachs, director of the Israel Women's Network.

"With fewer women in the Knesset, it will be that much harder to promote women's issues."

Knesset member Naomi Chazan of the secularist Meretz Party concurs. "Our numbers just dropped 25 percent, and it has to have an impact," she says.

"The problem is exacerbated by the fact that of the nine women MKs, only three are in the coalition, with the rest in the opposition," she adds. "Before, that number was reversed. We have less power than we used to."

Likud Knesset member Naomi Blumenthal disagrees.

"I can't deny that having only nine women in the Knesset could hurt our efforts, but I'm not worried about the influence of the religious parties or the fact that this is a Likud government," she says.

By all accounts, the dozen women who served in the previous Knesset accomplished a great deal, though they accounted for just one-tenth of the Knesset's 120 members.

"It will be hard to match their accomplishments during this term," Sachs says. "One of their greatest achievements was creating the Committee on the Status of Women, a cross-party committee that finally put women's issues on the national agenda."

Sachs credits the female parliamentarians with "putting aside their political differences, and there were many, to pursue common goals."

According to Sachs, they brought to public attention the problems of older women, gay women and agunot, women unable to get a divorce from their husbands. They also persuaded the public to think about domestic violence and discrimination against women in the army.

"They amended the law against domestic violence as well as the Equal Pay for Equal or Comparable Work Law, and Israeli women are already reaping the benefits," says Sachs.

While all agree that the drop in female MKs will limit women's power, many also anticipate resistance from the Knesset's religious parties, which increased their representation to 23 seats from 16 in the previous Knesset.

"Mr. Netanyahu depends on the religious and flatters them. These elements believe a woman's place is in the home," says Labor Knesset member Dalia Itzik.

"There isn't a single woman MK from the religious parties, and I think that says something. Limor Livnat [of Likud] is the only woman government minister, and I think that says something too," Itzik adds.

"I'm afraid the positive steps we were able to take in the past will be nullified."

Chazan of Meretz agrees. "The real difference in this new Knesset is the very high proportion of Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox MKs," she says.

"I think it will be very difficult to pass legislation, especially on the personal-status issues of marriage and divorce -- which are the purview of the religious establishment -- without a certain degree of flexibility" on the part of Knesset members.

Longtime Labor Knesset member Yael Dayan, who was due to appear at the State of the World Forum in San Francisco this week, fears that "not only women's issues" may suffer.

"I'm concerned that under a right-wing government, all human rights issues will cease to be a priority. Women's rights are human rights."

Likud's Blumenthal does not share the fears of her Knesset colleagues.

"Since the founding of the state, there has always been a certain status quo in society," Blumenthal says.

"If you look back at the rulings and legislative attitude toward women's issues, you don't see much variation [in] the religious parties. And I do believe that equality can be achieved under the present government."

Although reluctant to lay blame for the poor showing among female Knesset candidates, women's groups as well as Knesset members point a finger at Israel's electoral system.

"Traditionally, there has always been a problem of women's representation in the government because many candidates were -- and still are -- culled from military ranks, where women rarely achieve prominence," says Marsha Roth, co-founder of the fund-raising organization Women for Women in Politics.

"Men have been groomed as candidates by other men, and women have had a hard time breaking into the old boys' network."

Under the old system, Roth says, "party leaders would caucus and decide who would get which slot. Now, under the new primary system, party members vote for 10, 15 or 20 slots, and ranking is based on who gets the most votes."

In some parties, slots are put aside for certain candidates, usually women, immigrants or Arabs. "But it's not an exact science," she says.

"The Likud didn't save enough seats for women on its list, and Labor, which promised to keep four seats open, shuffled everything around at the last minute. Meretz kept its promises, but the party didn't win enough seats to make the difference."

For women to gain a stronger political foothold in elections in the year 2000, women parliamentarians say more must be done to convince both the public and their own colleagues that women's issues deserve attention and representation.

"We must convince women that when it comes time for them to cast 15 ballots in the primaries, it is worth their while to vote for five or six women candidates," says Dayan.

"It's a question of education, of showing women that without women in power, issues like the longer school day, the minimum wage -- 70 percent of minimum-wage earners are women -- and domestic violence won't get government attention and resources."

When it comes time to vote, Dayan adds, "women...have to say, `If you don't support our issues, we won't vote for you.'"