For years, Avner Yaron could stun any cocktail party crowd. Normal banter might include his profession (photographer) or family life (one son, one daughter). But then he’d bring up his wife — the brigadier general.
Ruth Yaron wasn’t the first female Israeli brigadier general, nor will she be the last, but she’s part of an exclusive club. All the Jewish state’s top female generals, past or present, could probably fit comfortably in a booth at Canter’s Deli for lunch.
As late as the 1970s, English army recruiters still employed the slogan, “It’s a man’s life in the British army.” Yaron can relate — as a teenager undergoing her compulsory Israel Defense Forces service, Yaron recalls that opportunities for women were severely limited.
Yet in the ensuing three decades, the times a-changed. By the time Yaron became the first female member of Israel’s joint chiefs of staff in 2002 and took over the IDF’s media and communications division, the role of women in Israel’s military had changed radically.
In army life, “my daughter had many more choices than I did. Women are much more professionally incorporated in all walks of service, in the infantry, air force and navy,” said Yaron, who will speak in Oakland on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay’s annual Pomegranate Event.
“During my period, women could not be fighting soldiers. Nowadays they can, and that’s a major difference.”
In fact, during the most recent Lebanon War, flight mechanic Karen Tendler became the first female Israeli soldier killed in combat.
“It was quite an issue here in Israel. In a terrible way, a woman soldier paying the highest possible price, as a male would do, got men and women in the military on equal ground,” Yaron said.
Tendler’s death reopened the debate of whether women should be in battle, “but basically — and this is also the public consensus — we are going to allow women to go into combat units.”
Over the past decade or so, Israeli women have taken a host of new leadership roles in the IDF. When asked if the military was leading society into a new era of egalitarianism or vice-versa, Yaron admitted she’s not sure.
“Everyone does military duty in Israel so, by and large, I think the military and society are tied so tightly, it’s hard to say what is affecting what,” she says.
On the other hand, it’s certainly a lot simpler to affect change in the military than society at large.
For example, the serial misogyny and harassment the female soldiers of Yaron’s generation withstood (though Yaron notes her sharp mouth kept anyone from giving her a hard time — ever) has been addressed. Harshly.
“Such complaints are dealt with very quickly and severely. We’ve put an end to that,” says Yaron, who retired from the military in 2005 and currently runs Jerusalem’s Academy for Quality Government.
“In this sense, the military was, if you will, the wagon that pulled the train. We were much quicker to react than civil society.”
Ruth Yaron will speak at the East Bay federation’s Pomegranate Event at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29 at the Highlands Country Club, 110 Hiller Drive, Oakland. A gift of $1,800 to the federation’s annual campaign, payable by the end of the year, is required of attendees. For information, contact Talya Gates-Monasch at [email protected] or (510) 839-2900 ext. 249.