Israel is the only country in the world with a mandatory military
service requirement for women. Women have taken part in Israel’s
military before and since the founding of the state in 1948, with women
currently comprising 34% of all IDF soldiers, fulfilling various roles
within the Ground, Navy and Air Forces. The 2000 Equality amendment to
the Military Service law states that “The right of women to serve in any
role in the IDF is equal to the right of men.” Currently, 88% of all
roles in the IDF are open to female candidates, while women can be found
in 69% of all positions.
History
Before the State of Israel
Before the establishment of the state, women served in combat roles
in the militias that would become the Israel Defense Forces. The rate of
women who took part in combat organizations stood at 20%. At the years
before the establishment of the IDF, military service for women existed
in the lines of the Shomer and Hagana organizations. The Hagana stated
in its law that its lines were open to: “Every Jewish male or female,
who is prepared and trained to fulfill the obligation of national
defense.” Most served as medics, communications specialists, and
weaponeers. During WWII approximately 4,000 females volunteered for
service in the British assisting forces. One of them, Alice
Hatzor-Hirsch, was about 16 when she joined the Hagana. In 1942, she
joined the British army as a driver. “We were more connected than the
others,” she recalled years later. “A girl becoming a driver in the
British army was considered the height of boldness at the time.”
In Tel-Aviv of the 1940′s, a battalion was established in which women
filled positions in security, weapons transport, and manned
anti-aircraft posts. In the winter of 1948, during the Israeli war of
independence, women joined the combat soldiers of the Palmach, who
traveled from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with their weapons concealed in
their clothes. The Palmach arm (thirty percent of which were females)
trained nine female platoon commanders, and other female squad
commanders.
1948 War
Less than two weeks after the Israeli Declaration of Independence on
14 May 1948, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion officially set up the IDF
as the country’s army. On 18 August 1948, mandatory conscription for
single and married women without children (born between the years
1920-1930) began.
Women served in many positions including nurses, signal operators,
drivers, clerks, cooks and more. The Women’s Corps, under which all
women served, was responsible for taking care of women soldiers’ needs
and for their training and integration into different IDF units. The
Women’s Corps also sent young women soldiers to be teachers in
developing areas and immigrant neighborhoods of Israel.
Since 1948
Apart from during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when manpower shortages
saw many IDF Women taking active part in land battles, women were
historically barred from battle in the IDF, serving in a variety of
technical and administrative support roles. IDF commanders have
historically considered the practice of assigning women to combatant
duties to be immoral due to the heightened danger of sexual assault that
female soldiers would face if captured by the enemy. Soon after the
establishment of the IDF, the removal of all women from front-line
positions was decreed. Decisive for this decision was the very real
possibility of falling into enemy hands as prisoners of war. It was fair
and equitable, it was argued, to demand from women equal sacrifice and
risk; but the risk for women prisoners of rape and sexual molestation
was infinitely greater than the same risk for men. A majority of women
serving in the IDF then were secretaries. The rest served primarily as
instructors, nurses, clerks and telephone operators. A few women flew
transport missions in the 1950s and a few women were accepted into
flight training in the 1970s, but did not complete the program before it
was closed to women. Yael Rom, the first female pilot trained by the
Israeli Air Force, earned her wings in 1951. Hava Inbar, a lawyer, was
appointed the judge of the military court in Haifa in September of 1969,
thus becoming the first female military judge in the world. “I do not
know if I want to be a military judge my whole life,” she said in an
interview, “but I am glad that I was appointed; it proves that the IDF
leaves almost all doors open for its female soldiers.”
During the Yom Kippur War, due to a growing need for ground forces,
women were needed in roles in the field. According to Rina Bar-Tal,
chair of the Israel Women’s Network, roles for women beyond technical
and secretarial support only started to open up in the late 1970s and
early ’80s, because of manpower shortages. Since then, a few women have
earned ranks higher than colonel. In 1986, Amira Dotan, then head of the
Women’s Corps, became the first female brigadier-general.
Gender equality
Civilian pilot and aeronautical engineer Alice Miller successfully
petitioned the High Court of Justice to take the Israeli Air Force pilot
training exams, after being rejected on grounds of gender. Though
president Ezer Weizman, a former IAF commander, told Miller that she’d
be better off staying home and darning socks, the court eventually ruled
in 1996 that the IAF could not exclude qualified women from pilot
training. Even though Miller would not pass the exams, the ruling was a
watershed, opening doors for women in new IDF roles. Female legislators
took advantage of the momentum to draft a bill allowing women to
volunteer for any position, if they could qualify.
In 2000, the Equality amendment to the Military Service law stated
that “The right of women to serve in any role in the IDF is equal to the
right of men.” The amendment that female lawmakers had drafted granted
equal opportunities to women found physically and personally suitable
for a job. The question of who and what was “suitable” was left to the
discretion of military leaders on a case-by-case basis. Women did start
to enter combat support and light combat roles in a few areas, including
the Artillery Corps, infantry units and armored divisions. A few
platoons named Karakal were formed for men and women to serve together
in light infantry. By 2004 Karakal became a full-fledged brigade. Many
women would also join the Border Police. The Women’s Corps was
dismantled in 2000, so that female soldiers for the first time would
fall under the authority of individual units based on jobs and not on
gender. They would wear the insignia of their units instead of the
insignia of the Women’s Corps. The position of Adviser to the Chief of
General Staff on Women’s Affairs was created.
The first female jet fighter pilot, Roni Zuckerman, received her
wings in 2001. By 2006, the first female pilots and navigators graduated
from the IAF training course, and several hundred women entered combat
units, primarily in support roles, like intelligence gatherers,
instructors, social workers, medics and engineers. When the Second
Lebanon War broke out, it was the first time since 1948 that women were
in field operations alongside men. Airborne helicopter engineer
Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Keren Tendler was the first female IDF combat soldier
to be killed in action. In November 2007 the Air Force appointed its
first woman deputy squadron commander.
In 2007, the Head of Personnel Branch, Major General (res.) Eliezer
Shtern, appointed a committee to define women’s service in the IDF in
the next decade, with the objective of increasing equal opportunities in
women’s service in the IDF. In September 2008, the committee’s
recommendations were presented to the IDF General Staff. Rav Aluf Gabi
Ashkenazi, then-Chief of Staff, supported the committee’s vision:
“The IDF, as a leading organization in Israeli society, designates
the service of men and women to a fulfilling and respectful service
based upon equal opportunities in the service of [the] IDF and the State
of Israel.”
On 23 June 2011, Orna Barbivai became the first female Major-General
in the IDF upon her promotion to the role of commander of the Manpower
Directorate. She is the second woman to serve on the General Staff.
Service
The unisex Caracal Battalion, which serves in a full combat capacity (2006)
Mandatory service for women in the IDF is 24 months, apart from roles
specified in law which require a service length of 36 months. Women may
be exempted from military service for reasons of religious conscience,
marriage, pregnancy or motherhood. A woman may receive an exemption on
religious grounds under the following conditions:
1.She has declared that for reasons of conscience, or a religious way of
life, she is prevented from doing military service and has proven this
to the satisfaction of the exemption committee.
2.She keeps the laws of Kashrut at home and outside.
3.She does not travel on Shabbat.
Women who arrive in Israel at age 17 and over are generally exempt
from army service, but may serve on a voluntary basis. Also, women (who
are not fighters) are not generally called up for reserve duty if they
are married or if they are beyond age 24.
Combat roles
Clause 16A of the military service law requires that female combat
soldiers serve 3 years of mandatory service, and continue in reserves
service up to age 38, even if they become mothers. These are essentially
identical to the terms of service for male combat soldiers. Each year,
1,500 female combat soldiers are drafted into the IDF.
A combat option for women is the Caracal Battalion, which is a highly
operational force that is made up of 70 percent female soldiers. The
unit undergoes training like any combat infantry. Elinor Joseph, who has
served with the Caracal Battalion, is the first Arab woman ever to
serve in a combat role in the Israeli army.
Also see Men In The Israel Defense Forces:
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