The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

During these years, women’s traditional roles are strengthened; the concern
for the soldier is expressed by washing and ironing the uniform, by
preparing meals when the soldiers are on vacation, baking cakes for
them to take back to the base, etc. The family is conceived as the most
important support for its soldier-children. Here, I can recall a very popular
radio programme, broadcast for many years every Friday noon, called
“the voice of mother”, in which soldier’s mothers described the special
meals they prepared for their sons that come home for Shabbat.
In its need for legitimacy, the army creates cooperation between parents
(the family) and the military system. Parents are invited to open-house
days on the military bases, commanders provide open lines for the par -
ents’ appeals, etc. This special role that mothers of soldiers have to
carry, as well as the glorification of the family, deepens the traditional
role of women, and preserves concepts of inequality.
Women in Uniform are Sexy
Women who grew up in the 1970s and ‘80s can recall the rear page of
the popular daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. A special space was allocated
to photos of Israeli woman soldiers, obviously all beautiful. The
represented girl-soldier changed every day, but the concept stayed the
same: images of beauty in service of the country.
Jewish Israeli women are subjected to conscription at the age of
eighteen, unless they are orthodox. However, for the vast majority of
them, this service means a submissive and heavily gendered role, providing
services in secretarial, educational, social-work and similar jobs,
which are perceived and represented as supportive to the real job, which
is executed by the men.
Their central role in the base is to create a more “normal”, homely and
pleasant atmosphere by virtue of their presence, providing male soldiers
with the “other” through which they measure themselves, and define
their masculinity and their male brotherhood. As so, in spite of their presence,
women are for all practical purposes excluded from any decisionmaking
or important roles in the system of the army.
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