Of course it bothers me to think what might happen if a female soldier from the Israel Defense Forces' mixed-gender Caracal combat unit was to fall captive. However, anything that can be done to a woman can also be done to a man. The issue for Israeli society today is a different one, and I ask: In aiming to prevent the rare possibility of a woman being taken captive, must we create a situation of inequality in the long term? The answer is no. For more than a decade, the women of Caracal have done an extraordinary job that deserves the highest praise. They volunteer to serve in this unit out of ideology and a love for their country. They choose a challenging and meaningful military service track and deal not only with the difficulty of the tasks imposed on them, but, unfortunately, also with prejudice, unjustified criticism and even with a certain level of contempt. These warrior women have built themselves up with their own hands. The stage of proving themselves ended long ago. Now, with escalations on the Egypt-Israel border, including an incident this past Friday that killed one and injured another soldier, the unit has been moved to more peaceful borders. But this must not take us backward, and this incident should not be cynically exploited. The process should be evolutionary, not revolutionary. It took many years for the public to recognize that women in the IDF could serve in any role, including as fighters and as officers, and to receive identical training to their male counterparts. When I joined the IDF, the most attractive positions for women were as personnel officers or in administration. We arrived at basic training knowing that there were few jobs open to us, but we had a strong desire to do something meaningful. I was sent to a course to become an aircraft electrician, then a new program. The course was different for men and for women, and the number of commanders willing to accept us was limited. Today, equality begins with induction, the training process, and development. Equality of opportunity was not an easy battle within the IDF, but we succeeded in winning it. The beneficiaries of this are first and foremost the IDF and Israeli society. Yehudit Grisaro was the IDF chief of general staffs consultant for women's issues and is currently vice-president of customer service at El Al Airlines.
