Ayelet Harel, PhD

In my studies of women in the Israeli context, I was surprised to find that research regarding women in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is focusing mostly on two sides of a continuum - Israeli peace activists or on Palestinian suicide bombers. To break this binary, I decided, along with my colleague, Shir Daphna-Tekoah, to study women in combat and combat-support positions in the IDF with the aim to learn more about women’s war experiences. We initiated a series of large-scale studies regarding the position of women in conflicts and women in the military, relating to their identity struggles, bodily experiences, traumas, strengths and vulnerabilities. Our research is being conducted by using an innovative qualitative methodology—Carol Gilligan’s “listening guide” technique in order to study various aspects of combatants’ experiences in conflict zones. This research was funded by the ISF grant number 160/15. We have a series of publications regarding women in the military; and are planning an ongoing and long-lasting research collaboration.