Behind the Headlines Film Maker Says Sexual Equality in Israel is ‘only a Myth’

Are Israeli women equal to Israeli men? Yes, many people would say, pointing to the fact that women must serve along with men in the Israel Defense Forces.

“This is only a myth,” says Shuli Eshel, who wrote, directed and produced a unique documentary film, “To Be A Woman Soldier,” to prove her point of view about the status of Israeli women. “There is no equality of the sexes in Israeli society. The Israeli army is a microcosm of the society, a microcosm where the inequality between men and women is sharply demonstrated.”

Eshel, a young, effervescent sabra, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview here that her film was meant to “explode” the myth of equality between the sexes in the army and to the status of women as it really is. The film was broadcast last April on Israeli television and was acclaimed by critics as an important social document.

REAL LIFE STORIES

The film depicts, through the real life stories of two women soldiers in their final month of service, the role of Israeli women in the army and in civilian life. Orly, a Yemenite from the city, and Abigail, from a kibbutz, represent the “average” woman. When they entered the army they were, like many other 18-year-olds, full of hope and expecting to take part in defending the country. But they soon realize that all combat jobs or jobs that bring them close to combat are closed to women.

They also discover that out of 709 professions in the Israeli army, only 225 are open to women soldiers. (By comparison, there are 630 professions in the U.S. army, of which 570 are open to women). Women in the Israeli army, the film shows, serve in mainly service roles. Orly and Abigail soon find themselves spending dreary hours in the office — typing, filing and serving coffee.

The film also shows that a lack of personnel has compelled the Israeli army to open up certain technical jobs to women, such as airplane technicians and control tower operators, jobs that were closed to women soldiers until recently. To illustrate this development, the film presents the story of Miri Dayan (no relation to Moshe Dayan) who had to fight against heavy odds to become the first, and so far the only woman commander of the women’s tank instructors course.

The film ends on a partially sad note as Orly and Abigail part with a warm embrace, knowing that the role that awaits them in civilian life after two years of army service is not much different.

RECEIVED AID FROM AMERICAN WOMEN

Eshel, who is in the United States to promote her film, has already received an enthusiastic response from the Public Broadcasting Service which stated in a letter to her that “We very much want the film for PBS broadcast.” Eshel said she now has to find sponsors for the film to provide the underwriting grants for televising the film on PBS.

She said that her goal in making the film “was to improve the status of Israeli women” because “as a social documentary film maker my commitment is a social one.” She contended that the Israeli woman is not equal to the Israeli man in all aspects of life — social and juridical — nor in the general treatment accorded her in society.

Continuing, she observed: “The time has come for women of Israel to take an active role in changing the situation toward equality. One of the sources for the inequality is the army, where the division of the roles between the sexes is a long-standing tradition.”

Comparing the status of the Israeli woman to that of her American counterpart, Eshel said American women are much more “liberated.” Israeli women, she said, are at a state where American women were in the early 1960s when they started for the first time to be conscious of their second class citizenship in society.

Eshel said that the controversy and responses that followed the showing of her film in Israel indicated that Israel is “ripe and ready” to ask questions and to probe the issue of women’s role and status in society in order to change the situation.