“You’re Always First a Girl”: Emerging Adult Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Israeli Army

Abstract

The Israeli army drafts both men and women, and most Israelis complete their military service during their emerging adulthood years. This study examined Israeli women's experiences as soldiers in the army. Twenty-three women (18 emerging adults, 5 young adults) were recruited using purposive sampling and interviewed about how they experienced their gender and sexuality during their army service. Interviews were analyzed using open and focused coding. Participants reported experiencing their army tenure as gendered and sexualized beings. Themes that emerged include gender performance, sexual harassment, and dating experiences and heteronormativity. This study expands current knowledge by examining Israeli emerging adult soldiers, gender, and sexuality in the Israeli army and looking at the intersection of gender, culture, and development.

Strengthening Sisters: How Latter‐day Saint Missionary Service Prepares Women for Leadership

“…This neglect might reflect the paucity of women congregants in senior leadership roles in most religious organizations, especially ones that adhere to patriarchal norms (Cnaan & Helzer, 2004; Ecklund, 2006; Ojong, 2017; Stolz & Monnot, 2019; Wallace, 2000). Although there are other women‐only settings for leadership development in nonreligious organizations (Archard, 2012; Häyrynen & Lämsä, 2017; Levin, 2011), it is important to explore whether and how faith‐driven beliefs in traditional gender roles in religious settings relate to women's potential to transfer leadership learning (Cnaan & Helzer, 2004; Dahlvig & Longman, 2016; Longman, Drennan, Beam, & Marble, 2019; Ojong, 2017). The current exploratory study can provide insight on potential for women to transfer leadership learning from life experiences, resulting in broader understanding about how to reduce gender leadership gaps.…”

“…In addition, although not specific to volunteerism, studies of women's compulsory military service have demonstrated that context matters. Häyrynen and Lämsä (2017) showed transfer of leadership learning for women in the Finnish military, whereas Levin (2011) found that sexism constrained leadership development of women in the Israeli military. Overall, these studies suggest learning in other settings can transfer to leadership roles.…”

The Intersections of Gender and Power in Women Veterans’ Experiences of Substance Use and Va Care

“…Hauser () found that “lone girls” in IDF—military women serving on male‐dominated bases—served in “female positions,” including clerical and administrative work, educational roles (e.g., cultural instructors), and caregiving positions in which they provided emotional and psychological support to men. In addition to holding subordinate social positions, Levin () found that women serving in IDF were expected to perform either more traditional gender identities and were expected to act “girly,” thus embodying weak gender characteristics or more masculine gender identities and were perceived as “dykish,” embodying more masculine characteristics and power.…”

“…The VA is a gendered organization where women Veterans, similar to servicewomen in military organizations (Hauser ; Levin ), oscillated between states of visibility and invisibility: they were visible as sexual objects and invisible as suffering subjects (Scheper‐Hughes and Lock ). Within this male‐dominated environment, gender inequalities present in the military context were reproduced in VA settings, placing women in devalued social positions and at the margins of the VA healthcare system.…”

Servicewomen’s Strategies to Staying Safe During Military Service

“…In an ethnographic study among women in Israeli's Defense Forces (IDF), Levin [24] further illustrates that male superiors sexually harassed female soldiers to exert power and control over them, devaluing their positions in the military.…”