Women in Israeli Army in the Context of Gender, Militarization and Nation- Building

Abstract

In Israel, soldiers are seen as the embodiment of what it means to be Israeli, both in terms of providing physical protection and representing the community as a whole. This is the source of a sense of belonging that creates a perception of ‘us and others’ through militarization, the state, ethnicity and gender, in a cyclical process. The conscious production and suppression of difference, both to be feared and to be fought against, requires the repetitive production of the perception of security through ‘fear’. Such a state of ‘insecurity’ led to the inclusion of women in the army, surrounded by patriarchal structures. Within this framework, this thesis will try to understand and explain, in the light of feminist perspectives and nationalist ideologies, how being a woman in the male-dominated army and military, which is seen as both respectable and mysterious due to its unknowns and difficulties, can bring heavy burdens, both moral and physical. Accordingly, it shows how women’s participation in the military during and after the nation-building process has been shaped by the structuring of the Israeli military, from dispersed to organized, in the historical context, including changing state objectives and national interests and strategies. It shows how the internal and external patriarchal order in the military is reflected in the service requirements and qualifications of gendered military roles, and how women have been instrumentalised in the military by being placed in secondary roles, mostly non-combatant positions defined as ‘women’s work’, under the guise of national interests and so-called equality.