Youth in the Military: Gendered Experiences in the Conscript Service in the Israeli Army

Abstract

Conscript military service is a pivotal experience for young Israelis of both genders. Juxtaposing conflicting claims concerning women’s military experience—the women’s marginalization claim and the youth moratorial self-enhancing claim—we compare men’s and women’s retrospective evaluations of six aspects of their service in the Israeli army: hardship, adaptation, motivation, investment, service significance, and personal benefits. Military service was found to be as meaningful and benefiting for women no less than for men. However, the dynamics of the moratorium experience differ by gender, in keeping with the differentiated substance and gendered social construction of their military roles.