- Israel has shifted women to more dangerous roles to mitigate the effects of its shortage of man power.
- Women now represent 21% of Israel’s combat soldiers, making 1 in 5 Israeli combat soldiers female.
After 20 months of genocide on the Gaza strip, Israel is suffering from an acute manpower shortage and has turned to women to replace key roles.
Before October 7, 2023, when the genocide on Gaza began, women although trained for combat, were mainly left guarding Israel’s borders or running checkpoints in the west bank, avoiding more dangerous tasks.
Since then, however, they have entered the battlefield in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria in ways many previously thought impossible.
Today 1 in 5 combat soldiers in the Israeli military are made up of women with women delving into more dangerous combat zones with experts saying the main reason, to make up for Israels acute manpower shortage.
In May the Israeli army admitted to a severe manpower shortage, exceeding 10,000 soldiers.
It comes after Israeli media reported last month thousands of reserve soldiers who took part in the genocide in Gaza were suffering from psychological distress, with over 9,000 of them currently undergoing treatment.
As a solution to the manpower problem, the Israeli military has been pushing for ultra-orthodox men into its ranks after a recent supreme court ruling that overturned the longstanding draft exemption.
Ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel account for about 13% of the population, a significant chunk which the Israeli military wants to capitalise on and have until recently been exempt from the Israeli draft.
Although recruiting women eases pressure on the Israeli militaries ambition to free up men for other fighting roles it is deemed only a partial solution to the manpower problem as many of the military’s core combat positions are still closed to women or dominated by men.
Women now represent 21% of Israel’s combat-classed forces, jumping from 14% right ahead of the war.
