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(Women's Army Corps)

   Since its inception, women have served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). During the War of Independence (1948^49), female soldiers participated occasionally in combat, but since 1949, no women had been allowed to do so. Women normally serve in the army for two years. However, women over 24, married women, and women with religious objections are exempt from military service. The Women's Corps is responsible for the placement, conditions of service, and well-being of women in the service. Women normally serve as clerks, drivers, radar operators, nurses, medical doctors, social workers, teachers, and instructors at the various service branch schools, as well as in various intelligence duties, the legal service of the IDF, and administrative capacities. In the mid- to late 1990s, steps were taken to gradually integrate female soldiers into some frontline units of the IDF. On 1 August 2001, the Women's Corps was incorporated into the IDF general staff rather than continuing to act as an independent unit. The commander of the Women's Corps, Brigadier General Suzy Yogev, was appointed an adviser on women's issues to the chief of staff. The position of the chief of staff's adviser on women's affairs was downsized to a staff position in October 2006. Feminists expressed concern that the decision would undermine women's struggle for equality and accessibility in a military force that remains chauvinistic and exclusionary.