WIZO formed a party and ran for Knesset in Israel's first elections in 1949, receiving 1.2% of the vote. It won one seat and was represented by Rachel Cohen-Kagan, chairwoman of WIZO at the time. Cohen-Kagan later ran in elections for the fifth Knesset as a member of the Liberal Party (though she was a member of the group that broke away to form the Independent Liberals).[4]