Jewish Life Digital Edition November 2014 | Page 38

ISRAEL

IN CONTEXT

THE POWER OF

Israeli women

DEFINITELY THE MOST POWERFUL, THE MOST
articulate, the most educated and the most
challenging women in the Middle East,
Israel’s women, Jewish, Muslim and
Christian, are by and large strong and
vocal, assertive and self-confident,
determined and forceful.
They have made, and will continue to
make, their mark in numerous fields, from
the military to the scientific, from the legal to
the culinary. They stand up for their rights,
defiantly when necessary, flirtatious at other
times, but always with a strong sense of
identity and acceptance of who they are.
Look at the position of women in the
military, in the IDF. Israel is the only
country in the world that requires women
to serve in the armed forces, so that the

34 JEWISH LIFE

ISSUE 79

entire population shares a sense of
contributing to the security of the country.
Recent research reveals that women today
comprise 34% of all soldiers and 57% of all
officers. Quite a statistic. In June 2011,
Orna Barbivai became the first female
major-general in the IDF, on her promotion
to the role of commander of the Manpower
Directorate. She is the second woman to
serve on the General Staff.
In November 2007, the Air Force
appointed its first woman deputy squadron
commander. The reality of the consequences
of war, though, is never far away. While
inequalities still exist, at the outbreak of
Second Lebanon War, women took part in
field operations alongside men. Tragically,
airborne helicopter engineer Sgt-Maj (res)

Keren Tendler was the first female IDF
combat soldier to be killed in action.
But the result? Generations of fierce and
bold and loud women, sharing a reputation
for being beautiful, but at the same time,
really brave – especially when they question
their gender roles. Young Israeli women
may not refer to themselves particularly as
feminists, but just try and tell one of them
that she can’t do what her brother does,
and watch her hackles rise. She’s as good as,
and in some cases better, than men in
similar positions. We’ve all seen them when
we visit Israel: hordes of tanned, physically
fit, self-possessed and poised young women
in uniform, the envy of many young female
visitors to the country who would aspire to
be part of that sorority, that close-knit

PHOTOGRAPH: ILAN OSSENDRYVER

Strong and vocal, assertive and self-confident, determined and
forceful I BY BEV GOLDMAN