Grounded
Female Pilots in the Israeli Air Force's Early Years
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6431433 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sharon Geva (0009-0005-0692-3919, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 81-100 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Israeli Studies Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2159-0370 • E-ISSN: 2159-0389 |
| Publisher | Berghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3167/isr.2025.400109 |
| OpenAlex | W4409309904 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
At the establishment of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in 1948, women served as pilots. In the mid-1950s, however, the IAF decided to remove women from flight training and ground all female pilots. That policy persisted until the High Court of Justice's ruling in the Alice Miller case (1995). This article narrates the experiences of women pilots before and after the IAF decision to ground women, demonstrating that the decision was based not on professional or security considerations but on patriarchal social attitudes; that the excluded pilots and trainees protested against their discrimination but were silenced; and that changes in IAF policy with respect to women pilots reflect broader attitudes about gender in Israeli society
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |