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| Israeli Army Still Poses Obstacles for Women | Israeli Army Still Poses Obstacles for Women |
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| TEL AVIV — WHEN it comes to the dissonance of working motherhood, Maj. Gen. Orna Barbivai had a doozy this summer. After her daughter’s wedding at the height of Israel’s war with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, she went straight to comfort the family of a slain soldier. | |
| General Barbivai, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Israeli military, had changed from her red gown back into army garb, but the soldier’s mother noticed the henna on her hand from a ceremony reflecting the family’s Iraqi roots, and offered congratulations. “It was one of the major challenges of my reality,” the general recalled in a recent interview. | General Barbivai, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Israeli military, had changed from her red gown back into army garb, but the soldier’s mother noticed the henna on her hand from a ceremony reflecting the family’s Iraqi roots, and offered congratulations. “It was one of the major challenges of my reality,” the general recalled in a recent interview. |
| That reality is 34 years of often being the first woman to occupy a particular position in a testosterone-driven institution, the last three as the lone woman to join the elite circle of the 20 who make up the “general staff” that runs it. Another reality is that General Barbivai spent her ceiling-shattering career in the pink ghetto of personnel, underscoring the complexity of gender in what is commonly seen as the world’s most integrated military. | That reality is 34 years of often being the first woman to occupy a particular position in a testosterone-driven institution, the last three as the lone woman to join the elite circle of the 20 who make up the “general staff” that runs it. Another reality is that General Barbivai spent her ceiling-shattering career in the pink ghetto of personnel, underscoring the complexity of gender in what is commonly seen as the world’s most integrated military. |
| “When I sit in an auditorium and I turn my head back, all I see is men, in front of me and behind me,” she said. | “When I sit in an auditorium and I turn my head back, all I see is men, in front of me and behind me,” she said. |
| “The people who get to the senior level get there with a huge amount of operational experience — they were tested in wars,” she noted. “I come with professional ability, and understanding that I’ll be tested on my ability to maximize the human resources in the army. To let them accomplish their goals, that’s my ultimate goal.” | “The people who get to the senior level get there with a huge amount of operational experience — they were tested in wars,” she noted. “I come with professional ability, and understanding that I’ll be tested on my ability to maximize the human resources in the army. To let them accomplish their goals, that’s my ultimate goal.” |
| Israel is the only nation with a gender-neutral draft, but that may sound more equal than it is: 57 percent of drafted women serve, compared with 73 percent of men. Though 92 percent of positions are open to women, a scant 2.9 percent of female service members were in combat roles in 2013, making up 4.3 percent of combat troops. Among reservists — a huge part of the force that fought in Gaza — 8 percent are female. | Israel is the only nation with a gender-neutral draft, but that may sound more equal than it is: 57 percent of drafted women serve, compared with 73 percent of men. Though 92 percent of positions are open to women, a scant 2.9 percent of female service members were in combat roles in 2013, making up 4.3 percent of combat troops. Among reservists — a huge part of the force that fought in Gaza — 8 percent are female. |
| But more than half of Israel’s military officers are women, compared with 17 percent in the United States, where there are three female four-star generals on active duty. Israel recently created a new coed combat battalion, and in January appointed its first female battalion commander. | But more than half of Israel’s military officers are women, compared with 17 percent in the United States, where there are three female four-star generals on active duty. Israel recently created a new coed combat battalion, and in January appointed its first female battalion commander. |
| General Barbivai, who retired this fall at 52, was celebrated as a role model, but also questioned, like so many beneficiaries of affirmative action, as to whether she won advancement on merit. She was criticized by young female officers for banning bright nail polish and flamboyant jewelry, and by others for not advancing the status of women beyond herself. | General Barbivai, who retired this fall at 52, was celebrated as a role model, but also questioned, like so many beneficiaries of affirmative action, as to whether she won advancement on merit. She was criticized by young female officers for banning bright nail polish and flamboyant jewelry, and by others for not advancing the status of women beyond herself. |
| Zeev Lerer, who was the chief of staff’s adviser on gender issues from 2003 to 2009, described General Barbivai as “very hard-working, determined and clever,” but said “she was very disappointing in all the ways she handled women’s issues.” | Zeev Lerer, who was the chief of staff’s adviser on gender issues from 2003 to 2009, described General Barbivai as “very hard-working, determined and clever,” but said “she was very disappointing in all the ways she handled women’s issues.” |
| “She did nothing for women in the military — on the contrary, she blocked many ideas and plans that would have made the military more equal,” Mr. Lerer said. “Maybe she was afraid of being identified with the women’s issues because she thought people would say she got her rank because she was a woman.” | “She did nothing for women in the military — on the contrary, she blocked many ideas and plans that would have made the military more equal,” Mr. Lerer said. “Maybe she was afraid of being identified with the women’s issues because she thought people would say she got her rank because she was a woman.” |
| Elazar Stern, a retired major general who was among General Barbivai’s predecessors as head of human resources, acknowledged that he and others promoted her in part because of her sex. | Elazar Stern, a retired major general who was among General Barbivai’s predecessors as head of human resources, acknowledged that he and others promoted her in part because of her sex. |
| “I cannot tell you that she was all the time the best from all the group, but I can tell you that she was good enough,” said General Stern, now a member of Israel’s Parliament. “The most important impression is not with her professionalism, it’s with her being a woman who can fulfill in the right ways her jobs.” | “I cannot tell you that she was all the time the best from all the group, but I can tell you that she was good enough,” said General Stern, now a member of Israel’s Parliament. “The most important impression is not with her professionalism, it’s with her being a woman who can fulfill in the right ways her jobs.” |
| THE eldest of seven children of an immigrant mother and often-absent father who grew up poor in the northern town of Afula, General Barbivai sees herself not so much as pioneering feminist but as promoter of people from Israel’s so-called periphery. The military here has a profound effect on the nation’s power structure, so service can be a steppingstone for those on the socio-economic fringe. | THE eldest of seven children of an immigrant mother and often-absent father who grew up poor in the northern town of Afula, General Barbivai sees herself not so much as pioneering feminist but as promoter of people from Israel’s so-called periphery. The military here has a profound effect on the nation’s power structure, so service can be a steppingstone for those on the socio-economic fringe. |
| “The strength of our military is not just our ability to draft the best, but also the weaker elements of our society, people who didn’t graduate from high school, new immigrants,” she explained. “For me it’s a way to close the loop for myself, as a person who grew up in the periphery.” | “The strength of our military is not just our ability to draft the best, but also the weaker elements of our society, people who didn’t graduate from high school, new immigrants,” she explained. “For me it’s a way to close the loop for myself, as a person who grew up in the periphery.” |
| She enlisted at 18 and was commissioned as an officer, then held more than a dozen command posts while earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social sciences. She is married to her high school sweetheart, a lawyer who retired from the military after 27 years as a major, and has long taken the lead in managing the home front. They have a son and two daughters, one rising in the military while rearing their granddaughter, who is almost 3. | She enlisted at 18 and was commissioned as an officer, then held more than a dozen command posts while earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social sciences. She is married to her high school sweetheart, a lawyer who retired from the military after 27 years as a major, and has long taken the lead in managing the home front. They have a son and two daughters, one rising in the military while rearing their granddaughter, who is almost 3. |
| Though Hebrew is a gendered language, the military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, declared when he made the promotion in 2011 that General Barbivai should be known as “aluf,” like all the men who had earned the rank of major general before, not the feminized “alufa.” But he later gave her an exemption to keep her head bare for the formal general-staff portrait because, as she put it, “a woman who just got invested in making her hair look great is not going to put a beret on.” | Though Hebrew is a gendered language, the military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, declared when he made the promotion in 2011 that General Barbivai should be known as “aluf,” like all the men who had earned the rank of major general before, not the feminized “alufa.” But he later gave her an exemption to keep her head bare for the formal general-staff portrait because, as she put it, “a woman who just got invested in making her hair look great is not going to put a beret on.” |
| On a more substantive note, General Barbivai often reminded battlefield commanders of the women who stand behind their men, whether in training, intelligence, operating the Iron Dome missile-defense system or working in the kitchen at the base. At a general-staff forum a few months before the Gaza war, she queried the chief scientist about the relative proportion of the head and body of a new missile. | On a more substantive note, General Barbivai often reminded battlefield commanders of the women who stand behind their men, whether in training, intelligence, operating the Iron Dome missile-defense system or working in the kitchen at the base. At a general-staff forum a few months before the Gaza war, she queried the chief scientist about the relative proportion of the head and body of a new missile. |
| “He told me that 25 percent is the head of the missile and 75 percent its body,” she said. “I used this as a metaphor. Look at what the percentage is of the support to allow the head of the arrow to succeed.” | “He told me that 25 percent is the head of the missile and 75 percent its body,” she said. “I used this as a metaphor. Look at what the percentage is of the support to allow the head of the arrow to succeed.” |
| ANOTHER example of her unique perspective came at lunch with a group of colonels. “Everyone took his food, it was quiet,” General Barbivai recalled, “and I said: ‘I’m sure the idea going through my head has never gone through your head: at any moment when I’m eating lunch, I’m asking myself, what are my children eating for lunch?’ They admitted it’s not a subject they think about.” | ANOTHER example of her unique perspective came at lunch with a group of colonels. “Everyone took his food, it was quiet,” General Barbivai recalled, “and I said: ‘I’m sure the idea going through my head has never gone through your head: at any moment when I’m eating lunch, I’m asking myself, what are my children eating for lunch?’ They admitted it’s not a subject they think about.” |
| “Even when you’re a very senior commander, you cannot separate yourself from your sense of motherhood,” she said. “Even if my husband was always involved, I saw myself as responsible for this issue.” | “Even when you’re a very senior commander, you cannot separate yourself from your sense of motherhood,” she said. “Even if my husband was always involved, I saw myself as responsible for this issue.” |
| General Barbivai celebrated her release from the military with bold red nail polish and a pink case for her cellphone. At the interview in a dingy Tel Aviv military office, she wore a flashy gold necklace over a sleeveless black-and-white top that matched her clutch purse, all boons of a shopping spree after decades in which, she said, “when I would change out of my uniform I would be in pajamas.” | General Barbivai celebrated her release from the military with bold red nail polish and a pink case for her cellphone. At the interview in a dingy Tel Aviv military office, she wore a flashy gold necklace over a sleeveless black-and-white top that matched her clutch purse, all boons of a shopping spree after decades in which, she said, “when I would change out of my uniform I would be in pajamas.” |
| She is heading up Israel fund-raising for the Women’s International Zionist Organization, and spending a lot of time cooking and cleaning at the home of her daughter, 30, a new major who recently got a demanding new job, in personnel, at the Ashdod naval base. | She is heading up Israel fund-raising for the Women’s International Zionist Organization, and spending a lot of time cooking and cleaning at the home of her daughter, 30, a new major who recently got a demanding new job, in personnel, at the Ashdod naval base. |
| “When she comes home and opens the door at night, I want to be there a minute before to make things easier,” General Barbivai explained. “I understand the complexity. The major general is doing whatever she can to help the major to make her career.” | “When she comes home and opens the door at night, I want to be there a minute before to make things easier,” General Barbivai explained. “I understand the complexity. The major general is doing whatever she can to help the major to make her career.” |