Ruth Kolian is a social activist and head and founder of the “Ubezchutan (And in their Merit)” political party – the first ultra-Orthodox party to include women on its list for the Knesset.

Ruth Kolian studied at Ono Academic College’s ultra-Orthodox campus. There she ran for the position of student union leader — something that began her public exposure and even reached the media. One of her first activities as a social activist was the walk from Petah Tikva to Jerusalem, which she did with a protest poster she carried with her about the state of public housing in the State of Israel. The Israeli media covered the walk, which took place in March 2013 and took two days to complete.

Kolian founded the Ubezechutan political party and ran in the 20th Knesset elections in 2015. The party did not get any seats but received extensive media coverage. Some rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox community boycotted her, and even media sources in the community refused to let her publicize her new party. Kolian has worked tirelessly to increase awareness about breast cancer, expressed, among other ways, through the distribution of posters and their placement throughout the ultra-Orthodox cities of Israel, including Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, and Bnei Brak. This movement is unique because it is the first of its kind in this ultra-Orthodox society that has occurred.