[Jpost] From 2020-2021, the IDF conducted an analysis of combat positions for women, a follow-up to a previous study.
Can they play men's sports?
The integration of female soldiers into Israel’s combat infantry units, some elite Special Forces and certain armored units has been postponed due to the physiological difference between men and women, the IDF told the High Court of Justice on Monday in response to petitions by women seeking to join Special Forces.
The IDF has conducted several pilot programs for the integration of women in combat positions, upon which it said the military often bases its decisions. From 2020-2021, it conducted an analysis of combat positions for women, a follow-up to a previous study that determined there was a low probability for women being able to fulfill the physical requirements of certain units, such as armored and heavy infantry. The IDF is conducting further analysis and review of the issue.
The ability to carry heavy weight, in particular being repeatedly burdened with heavy backpacks for long distances, subjected women to a significantly greater risk of injury than men, the IDF said.
WHICH IDF COMBAT UNITS CAN WOMEN JOIN?
The analysis found that some less weight-intensive combat roles within the infantry brigades, such as in certain mortar teams, could be met by dozens of female candidates each year.
The IDF does expect that more elite units would be made available to women, based upon physiological criteria.
In March, the selection process for the 669 Search and Rescue and Yahalom Combat Engineering Corps were opened to women, with 12 of them being recruited for the latter. This program would continue as planned, according to the IDF’s court filing. A November draft would see two teams of 15 female soldiers enter the screening process. The first female recruits for 669 were expected for the December draft.
The petitions to the High Court were filed by a candidate in the pilots’ course who dropped out in 2020 and later became an officer in a classified air force position. However, she requested that she be allowed to apply for a Special Forces unit. The IAF pilots’ course is a prestigious program, and while most do not complete the lengthy process, those who drop out of it are often assigned to other elite units.
| Meanwhile, back at the courthouse: |
IDF tells High Court it will reevaluate some parts of plan to open units to women
[IsraelTimes] The State Attorney’s Office has issued a response on behalf of the Israel Defense Forces over an ongoing appeal to the High Court over apparent gender inequality in military units.
The response details a series of moves the IDF has carried out over the past year to enable women to serve in some elite units that had been previously closed off to them.
The IDF says it will continue a pilot program of female soldiers in the elite Unit 669, the Air Force’s elite helicopter-borne search and rescue unit, and Yahalom, an elite combat engineering unit.
The first female soldiers in Unit 669 will draft in November. Twelve female soldiers were drafted to Yahalom this past March, and will undergo a lengthy training period. More female soldiers are expected to draft to Yahalom in November.
The IDF meanwhile says it is delaying a plan to allow women to serve as drivers in an infantry brigade. The initial plan — which had few details and no expected start date, and the specific infantry brigade was not chosen — will be reevaluated, the IDF says.
Similarly, the IDF says it is delaying and reevaluating plans to possibly include female soldiers in the Armored Corps. This plan also had no specific details when it was initially discussed by the IDF.
Female soldiers will continue to serve in a tank unit in the Caracal mixed-gender light infantry battalion, which is stationed on the border with Egypt. |