Our recent survey found many Israeli soldiers have not been trained on gender equality, the Israel Democrac Institute's Idit Shafran Gittleman says
September 6, 2019 09:03
Just the other day, a woman lookout soldier (tazpitanit) alerted forces on Israel’s southern frontier to a border breach and averted a terrorist attack which could have cost the lives of many.
Since the IDF’s establishment in 1949, this has been one of the few countries in the world with compulsory military service for women. The new, mostly non-combat positions were initially opened up to women in order to free up men for combat duty. Women were mostly assigned to training units.
The turning point for integrating women in the armed forces came in 1995, after the Alice Miller case. She appealed the IDF’s refusal to allow her to take the screening tests for its pilot’s course on the grounds of her gender.
The High Court of Justice ruled that women are entitled to equality of opportunity in their military service — both formally and substantively.
After the ruling, more and more positions opened up to women. The first was service in aircrews, followed by 14 others, including shipboard duty in the navy, the border police, anti-aircraft units, the Caracal infantry battalion, and the airborne medevac system.
The percentage of positions open to women ballooned; today, 86 per cent of armed forces roles are open to women.
Additionally, according to IDF data, between 2013 and 2017 the number of women serving in combat positions in the ground forces jumped by 350 per cent. Since 2005, the number of female combat soldiers has increased sevenfold.
At the same time that service opportunities for women expanded, the IDF has had to deal with the tensions arising from women and religious soldiers serving together.
A head-on collision — between the gender revolution in the IDF and the demands of soldiers adhering to religious laws about modesty and gender separation — became unavoidable.
In an attempt to resolve tensions, the IDF issued the Joint Service Order in September 2016, which aims at regulating service by women who serve alongside men and at protecting the rights of observant soldiers.
April 2019 saw a typical manifestation of this conflict when the IDF decided not to allow women to serve in the armoured corps, despite a successful pilot of mixed tank crews. It is interesting to note that the IDF justified the decision on economic grounds.
A recent study by the Center for Security and Democracy at the Israel Democracy Institute sheds light on the complexity of these tensions.
500 newly released (between one and three years ago) soldiers were interviewed between January 28 and 31 this year.
The study found that 78 per cent of religious male soldiers and 46 per cent of female soldiers agreed that joint service in combat units has created daily challenges.
A little over half of all soldiers reported that their commanding officers were considerate of the needs of both groups, but only 39 per cent thought that the IDF as a whole made the same effort. The study also made clear that a more significant implementation of the Joint Service Order and its principles is required in order to further true gender equality.
The survey found that 43 per cent of soldiers never heard of the Order, while an additional 28 per cent heard of it but never had any training on the topic.
We should not make light of the steps taken by the IDF to integrate women into almost all its units.
At the same time, we must not forget the message that the High Court intended to convey, namely, that the principle of equality is not upheld if it must yield whenever “security and defence needs” come at its expense.
The complexity of Israeli society permeates its armed forced, and as the people’s army, it will continue to uphold its commitment to equality for all its soldiers.
The IDF should manage the different tensions, including between women and men, in a way that promotes an equitable and just society in Israel.
Dr. Idit Shafran Gittleman is a Researcher at the Center for Security and Democracy at the Israel Democracy Institute
