Women to Take on Greater Combat Role in IDF

December 4, 2013

2 min read

“…Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who traineth my hands for war, and my fingers for battle…” (Psalms 144:1)

New female recruits to the Combat Intelligence Unit (Photo: IDF)
New female recruits to the Combat Intelligence Unit (Photo: IDF)

Newly appointed GOC Army Headquarters Commander Major-General Guy Zur has initiated a program to encourage the incorporation of women into combat units throughout the army, Ynet reported on Sunday.  The program, being promoted by the army’s Personnel Directorate and Ground Forces, calls on commanders of the head corps headquarters, including infantry and paratroopers, engineering and armored corps, to submit recommendations by January on how to include women in combat positions under their respective jurisdictions.

Several upcoming changes in IDF service requirements have prompted this proposal, among them a shift in the length of mandatory service.  Males’ service requirements will be cut by four months in the next two years, while females’ service will be similarly extended.  Until now, women serving in the IDF were considered volunteers; this is expected to be reevaluated.

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Modern warfare technology enables women to serve in areas they have not been able to before.  Among the suggestions for new roles for women in the army, gunning tanks, operating heavy engineering machinery, including D-9 bulldozers, and clearing bombs in the Yahalom special elite combat engineering unit are being considered.  A senior Ground Forces source told Ynet, “Why can’t a female soldier, in today’s advanced technological age of the armored corps, fire a shell? This initiative originates primarily from the manpower needs in combat roles, and if the initiative proves successful, it is possible that these positions would open up in late 2014. We have no intention to establish gender units only for women, but we definitely want to incorporate them in more (existing) combat units.”  Currently, the only combat unit in which women serve is the Caracal battalion, which is coed.

While some 90% of all army positions are open to women, most of these jobs are still “back-end” positions, away from the front lines.  Only 2% of all female recruits serve in combat positions now, while a mere 4% of all combat soldiers are women.  The primary obstacle to expanding women’s role in combat positions is physiological: many tasks require soldiers to carry heavy weights or perform other activities that are physically more difficult for women.

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