IDF considers full gender integration of combat units

Army chief tasks Ground Forces' head to prepare feasibility study, following High Court petition

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i24NEWS
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Soldiers of the Bardales Battalion prepare for urban warfare training on an early foggy morning, near Nitzanim in the Arava area of Southern Israel, on July 13, 2016.
Soldiers of the Bardales Battalion prepare for urban warfare training on an early foggy morning, near Nitzanim in the Arava area of Southern Israel, on July 13, 2016.Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed that it has formed a committee to consider allowing women to serve in frontline combat positions, beyond the mixed gender light-infantry units in which they already serve.

A recent High Court of Justice petition, which four female teenagers brought to force the military to permit them to try out for units that are currently only open to men, precipitated the move.

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The military maintained that there was no need for the court's involvement, as it had independently formed a committee in July and already begun to evaluate the issue. The Times of Israel (TOI) reported that the IDF has requested a full year to review the issue and reach a decision.

“In the beginning of July 2020, IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi decided to form a professional committee with the goal of seriously and thoroughly considering — from a wide, inclusive and in-depth point of view — the possibility of integrating women into additional combat positions in the IDF,” the military said cited TOI.

The IDF said that the team - led by Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick, commander of IDF Ground Forces, with Brig.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano outgoing head of the Gaza Division and a former commander of the Paratroopers Brigade as his deputy - would investigate a number of factors.

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These include, "physiological-medical considerations; human resource planning; how the women would try out for the units; how it would affect the military’s command structure going forward; how it would affect reserve service; how to have co-ed service while maintaining propriety; and others," according to TOI.

Most units in the Israeli army are open to both men and women, with the exception of infantry brigades, armored brigades, submarines, certain elite reconnaissance units, and a small number of other positions. The airforce, previously seen as exclusively a male domain, is increasingly opening up to women - including the world's second female F-35 pilot.

 

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