Gender, Emotions Management, and Power in Organizations: The Case of Israeli Women Junior Military Officers

Military Women: Changes in Representation and Experiences

“…Noteworthy is that Israeli female officers are overrepresented among junior officers; representing 56% (Karazi-Presler et al 2018). However, female officers in the IDF generally do not advance beyond the rank of major; representing only 14% of the officers in the rank of colonel and above (Karazi-Presler et al 2018).…”

“…Contemporary changes in the structure of the IDF have given female junior officers opportunities to be promoted and serve in command positions in a variety of roles (Karazi-Presler et al 2018). According to Karazi-Presler et al (2018), junior officer women experience power and authority in their military positions. Their study is based on indepth retrospective interviews with 25 female officers in the Israeli military.…”

“…On the one hand, the women who had served as junior officers felt ashamed of wielding their power. On the other hand, many found the power they experienced in the military empowered and strengthened them in other aspects of their lives long after they had left the military (Karazi-Presler et al 2018). There is also evidence that women serving in combat units in the IDF feel more empowered and have a greater sense of self-efficacy even when they had experienced life-threatening situations (Shahrabani and Garyn-tal 2019).…”

Organizational processes and gender integration in operational military units: An Israel Defense Forces case study

“…Four years later, in a follow-up study, the same researchers argued that male and female cadets in mixed-gender battalions in the officers' training school expressed indifference towards the integration of men with women, perceiving it as something natural (Sasson-Levy & Amram-Katz, 2007, p. 130). This approach is also dominant in studies on women's military service experiences and are being conducted after they have been discharged (Karazi-Presler, Sasson-Levy, & Lomsky-Feder, 2017). These types of field studies enable the establishment of different points of view on social processes relating to the military service of men and women characteristic of mixed-gender units.…”

“…These difficulties often lead to studies that rely on interviews conducted after the interviewees have already completed their military service. This approach is also dominant in studies on women's military service experiences and are being conducted after they have been discharged (Karazi-Presler, Sasson- Levy, & Lomsky-Feder, 2017). Debates in the civil society concerning gender integration in the military are likely to lead the military institution towards caution in permitting such a study (Levy, 2010).…”