Women in command

By Rebeca Permuth de Sabbagh

In 1969, Israel had elected Golda Meir as Prime Minister, at a time when female presence in positions of power was scarce worldwide, and in a region particularly repressive toward women. Ten years later, the United Kingdom would take that step with Margaret Thatcher. Israel was not only a pioneer; it positioned itself early among democracies that opened real spaces of leadership for women.

This progress is no coincidence. To a large extent, it stems from the fact that women are also required to perform military service. In a democracy where the army is part of the very fabric of the country, it functions as a great equalizer. This participation is not symbolic, it is key and operational, and it becomes the foundation of tangible gender equality.

While challenges remain, such as achieving full economic parity and equal pay across all sectors, Israel stands out as an advanced society in promoting women into positions of authority and command. Some examples: all-female tank units, many of them  women in their twenties, eliminated fifty terrorists after seventeen hours of combat on October 7. It is estimated that around thirty women, including pilots and navigators, have participated in recent strikes against Iran. Added to this is the fundamental role of women in border defense units and intelligence, where they detect threats and anticipate attacks.

Thus, while the world recently celebrated that women in Saudi Arabia were allowed to drive without a male companion, in Israel, away from the spotlight, without fanfare, but with decisive efficiency, women operate tanks and pilot military aircrafts. The contrast is striking: it reflects diametrically opposed models of female inclusion, ranging from the freedom to decide how to dress, without the imposition of suffocating textile prisons, to an actual possibility of reaching the highest levels of leadership.

The hypocrisy and selective outrage are impossible to ignore. One example suffices: in 2021, Iran was elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Yes, the same regime where a woman who dares to go out without a hijab can be brutally beaten to death by the ironically named “morality police.”

It is inconceivable that so-called feminists, together with the “champagne socialists” relentlessly attack the only real democracy in the Middle East, while maintaining complicit silence in the face of the atrocities committed against women in other countries of the region, betraying those very principles that they hypocritically claim to defend.