The Role of Women in the Defense Force of Israel

The purpose is to examine the role of women in the Israeli military, with a view toward clarifying misconceptions as to their utilization and assignment, and toward developing an understanding of the reasons for the Israeli policies. The research material was obtained by personal interviews and visits to the sites described in Israel. There is conscription of women in Israel, but women are drafted only in numbers necessary to meet manpower shortages. In general, the tasks the women perform are administrative, technical, and service duties that require either no specialized training or very little training. Women are neither trained for combat nor assigned to combat roles, but some serve with combat units. There is no type of ground unit to which they cannot be assigned as noncombat personnel however, they do not serve on ships or fly aircraft.