window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-GEQWY429QJ');

 

Entity reports on the history of women's rights in the Israeli Air Force.

Two decades ago, Alice Miller went to the Supreme Court of Israel to insist that women be allowed to join the Israeli Air Force (IAF) as fighter pilots. When the men in her class were invited to take air pilot qualification exams, Miller remarked, “I didn’t get an invitation because of my chromosomes. I started asking, but no one had a good explanation.”

Because no one could explain why she was excluded from the program, she went straight to the Israeli Supreme Court and charged the IAF for sex discrimination. “There’s a myth of the Israeli woman soldier fighting at the front and doing exactly what men do,” Miller said. “But if you take a deeper look, you see that most women in the army serve coffee to their commanders.”

That same year, however, president Ezer Weizman, a former air force commander argued, “Women are incapable of withstanding the pressures placed on a fighter pilot.”

But after reviewing her case, the Supreme Court disagreed and deemed the ban on female recruits unconstitutional. The 3-2 ruling decided that “closing the aviation course to women violates their dignity and degrades them.”

Unfortunately, when Miller was granted the opportunity to try out for the pilot’s course, she was declared medically unfit. Nevertheless, as the Israeli Defense Forces website writes, Miller’s inability to serve “didn’t take away from the importance of her actions. She sparked major changes both in the army and in society as a hole.”

Alice Miller’s actions helped pave the way for many women to start the rigorous course required to earn their wings. For example, in 1998 Sheri Rahat became an F-16 combat navigator and the first woman to graduate in five decades. Three years later, Roni Zuckerman, the granddaughter of two leaders from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, graduated as the first combat pilot. And in December 2011, a record of five women completed the piloting course.

Today, 38 women (10 percent) in total have made the cut and received their pilot’s wings. Of these 38 females, 16 are combat navigators, three are combat pilots, seven are helicopter pilots and 12 are cargo pilots.

According to Breaking Israel News, 31 of those women still serving in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on active duty, while five are active reservists. Additionally, women represented seven percent of the last graduating piloting class.

“While the success rate among male trainees who participate in the program is higher (according to the Air Force, data shows 20 percent pass the course as opposed to only four percent of females who succeed in passing), the women are no less counted upon when going into action,” writes Breaking Israel News.

Every female graduate is a part of an incredible history of courageous women who have fought for equality in the Israeli military since the pre-state militias. Thanks to Miller’s actions, more than 90 percent of the positions in the army are now open to women. And according to Brigadier General Rachel Tevet-Wiesel, a Women’s Affairs Advisor to the IDF Chief of Staff, more positions will be available for women in the years to come.

Edited by Angelica Pronto
Send this to a friend