Israeli women and the military

This is a late post for the week of September 14.

All combat jobs were recommended to be available to women by an Israeli committee. This could mean tense changes for their military. The last all-male bastions are front line infantry, armor, and special forces, and would be the last to be integrated. The announcement was used for long-term planning to ‘maximize the abilities of women for the overall benefit of the armed forces.’ Men and women have been drafted since 1948. In the war for the country’s independence, men and women fought side by side and before that women did the same jobs as men in pre-state underground groups. Later on, women were transferred to desk jobs. It was recommended that women be allowed into any unit they’d like and serve the same amount of time as men. Currently men serve three and women serve two. Retired general Yehudit Ben-Natan is in total support of the mixing of women and men. She rejects the idea of women not being in the front line because of risk of death, danger, and uncomfortable situations. She says the main purpose of the military is combat so that’s where women should be also. Retired major general Yaakov Amidror disagrees totally. He says that women will never be a physical match for men in front-line units and the military should invest resources elsewhere. The inspiration comes from Canadian and European integrated units. Only about 2.5 percent of women serve in combat jobs. The military plans to implement their plan within five years.

Integrating women into combat jobs is a good thing to me because women have worked so hard for equal rights for so long. If there are women in the military with the desire to work alongside men, knowing the risk and responsibility they’re taking then they should be allowed the opportunity. I think that allowing women to be equal in all aspects of life will slowly but surely close the gender gap. I do not believe in underestimating anyone so just because a person is labeled female or male does not justify not giving that person a chance at an area in which they may excel.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/17/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Women-in-Uniform.php