Isreali Women and the IDF

While traveling in Asia, I met many people, including an Israeli woman who had served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). I asked her what lead to her decision to join the armed forces… and she told me that national military service is mandatory for all women over 18. The service term lasts two years and, of course, there are exemptions for religious reasons, etc. You’d think that some of these women would be ‘up in arms’ (mehehehe) about the requisite, but based on what she told me, most Israeli women have no problem serving their country.

Photographer Rachel Papo’s project entitled Serial No. 3817131 offers a glimpse into the world of these women and her artist statement below offers a different perspective than the one I heard from my friend in Asia:

At an age when social, sexual, and educational explorations are at their highest point, the life of an eighteen-year-old Israeli girl is interrupted. She is plucked from her home surroundings and placed in a rigorous institution where her individuality is temporarily forced aside in the name of nationalism. During the next two years, immersed in a regimented and masculine environment, she will be transformed from a girl to a woman, within the framework of an army that is engaged in daily war and conflict. Almost fifteen years after my mandatory military duty ended, I went back to several Israeli army bases, using the medium of photography as a vehicle to re-enter this world.

The website dedicated to the project has been down for a few days, but I found a smaller collection of the photos on Papo’s portfolio site… some of my favs are left out.