6. Reasons For The Reality Gap
5. The Role of the Army in Israeli Society
One of the more familiar images that came from the War of Independence was
the picture of the Palmachnikit – the girl soldier fighting for her
State alongside the young men of Israel. The truth is that even in 1948, the
involvement of women was less than that image might have suggested, but there
were indeed women who were involved on the front line or in defense of settlements.
Nevertheless the 1948 war was the last time that women were anywhere near
the front line in the Israeli army. Fears about the fate of the women if they
were captured in battle, caused a pulling back of women to rear line and supportive
roles. Moreover, the aforementioned National Service Law of 1949 which set
an identical statutory period of military service for women and men was soon
changed with male service being increased to two and a half years and finally
three, while women’s service stayed the same. Women’s service
was gradually downplayed in the sense that it was not taken as seriously as
the men’s.
There were a number of indicators to this process, in addition to the length
of service. Married women (as opposed to married men) were exempted from service
and reserve duty for all women was cut down to a minimum so that many women
were never called at all. The jobs that were available for women soldiers
became almost totally restricted to a few important but auxiliary support
roles. Many women went into secretarial roles of one kind or another and most
women soldiers became removed from any feeling of real military involvement.
It was a process not unlike that in which women in collective workers’
settlements had been alienated from productive work branches and had been
relegated to the service branches. But whereas the women of the early kvutzot
and kibbutzim had been a small, ideologically driven, elite force, here the
group consisted of the young women of Israel. Many women became disaffected
in their service jobs. It was relatively hard to sustain a sense of motivation
and national service when military action was kept safely at arm’s length.
Moreover, the ubiquitous sexual innuendoes born of male camaraderie in a
place where the men were active and the women, on the whole, were passive,
was something which could easily undermine any sense of taking part in a national
challenge. So much for army service and the idea of the dedicated woman soldier
fighting for her country with her male comrades. For many women the only fighting
they were likely to do with their male comrades was in fighting them off!
This of course has become part of a larger issue, that of the maleness of
a society where the army plays a role as one of the more “sacred”
elements. It has often been pointed out that it is extremely difficult for
men, who spend a considerable slice of life on an ongoing basis in uniform,
in an overwhelmingly masculine institution, to leave their army attitudes
at the door of their home when they leave their period of service.
The Israeli army, of necessity, like all armies of the world, is a haven
of maleness, and this inevitably spills into the society as a whole. The army
has a shine and a prestige to it that lasts, for many people, an entire lifetime.
High military status tends to translate into civilian life, and provides an
alternative or a complement to financial wealth as a main constituent of male
status - and by extension of status in general - in the country as a whole.
Military service is an important glue that holds Israel together in terms
of the common language that it creates. If half the population is, almost
by definition, excluded from the camaraderie of this experience, then clearly
this has implications for the wider society and for the feeling of the women
in that society. If military prowess has been a key element in the successful
transition of many army officers to political careers, and if military experience
is seen as a central component of a serious politician’s ability to
understand the national challenges that affect Israel, what does that say
about the chances of women to rise to central positions in the political process?