Women in combat roles: Yes, you can
Op-ed: It’s true that not every girl is fit to be a fighter, but neither is every boy. Almost every woman soldier who has completed a physical fitness instructors’ course is likely capable of being an infantry fighter, let alone a fighter in the Armored Corps; the rabbis should focus on what they know, rather than presenting scientific research to prevent female enlistment.
Their arguments may be friendlier to the secular ear than the foolish comments made by Rabbi Levinstein (or, as people like to call him, “Rabbi Yigal”), but the goal is the same goal.
While I’m not such a big expert on the human body, I can testify that as a pretty strong and athletic male, who is 1.84 meters tall and weighs 75 to 80 kilograms, I completed a parachute course with stress fractures, and my knees are still killing me.
One of the most courageous soldiers in my squadron was actually a geek with glasses, slim and yellow as a chick, who barely weighed 50 kilograms but had the will power of a bulldozer. He was shorter than me, thinner than me and weaker than me, but he was a much better soldier than me. So physical size doesn’t always matter.
Is every girl fit to be a fighter? No. Is every boy fit to be a fighter? No. It’s true that, on average, boys are physically stronger than girls. There is no need for research to know that. It’s enough to see the difference between men and women’s athletic records. But looking at the average only is like talking about that guy who drowned in a pool which has an average depth of half a meter.
There are, after all, 40-year-old women who run a full marathon and even an ultramarathon, which is something I can’t even do in my dreams, and there are men who are too lazy to pick up the TV remote control to switch over to their favorite sports channel.
I am convinced, for example, that almost every woman soldier who has completed a physical fitness instructors’ course is capable of being an infantry fighter, let alone a fighter in the Armored Corps.
In the heat of the argument over combat service for girls, we are also hearing the claim that the IDF is lowering its standards in the name of equality and harming the value of aiming for victory. It’s interesting, because in the past two decades the effort scale has been eased for male fighters as well, the final trek at the end of basic training in the infantry brigades has been cut short, and the amended IDF policy gives soldiers the right to six hours of sleep at times of routine, which is not exactly the best way to prepare for war.
I don’t recall Religious Zionism members complaining that this harms the value of winning. And it’s not that we have seen such great victories up to now with a top command comprised entirely of men, from squad commanders to the chief of staff.
Some will say, why is it actually so important? After all, there are much more urgent issues to advance when it comes to women’s rights, like equal pay or a real battle against sex offenses and sexual harassment. But drafting girls to combat units is important not just because half the population is being denied the right to self-fulfillment, but also because the IDF’s General Staff is one of the most influential bodies in the State of Israel and serves as a steppingstone to senior positions, and it cannot be purely male.
Since the State of Israel’s establishment, only one woman has reached the rank of major-general—Orna Barbivai, the former head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate.
Most major-general positions rightfully require a command-combat background such as regiment commander, brigade commander, division commander, etc. Even the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate is usually an officer from the Infantry or Armored Corps rather than an intelligence officer.
In order for a woman to become in three decades from now a top commander, and definitely a chief of staff, she must join a combat unit tomorrow morning.
So whoever is physically and mentally fit to be a fighter should be a fighter, and whoever isn’t fit shouldn’t be, regardless of whether it’s a boy or a girl. As for the rabbis: They should go back to their Talmud books.
