Women in the Israeli army

Abstract

This article discusses women serving on closed bases (where soldiers stay to sleep) in Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF). Based on findings of a large-scale qualitative study, the author suggests that women mimic male soldiers to get round the structural barriers set by the military. This response is linked both to women’s proximity to combat and to the living conditions found on closed bases. These women have created a new approach for ‘doing masculinity’. They mimic male combat behaviour and often stretch the definition of combat to include themselves in it. This is beneficial to women soldiers on an individual level but does little to alter traditional gender roles and may even serve to reinforce them.