Does military service help women into management?

Abstract

Women's collaborative, nurturing management styles are often seen as non‐managerial where an authoritarian, militaristic approach is the dominant style, as authors like Judi Marshall (WiMR Vol 1 No 1) have pointed out. In a Middle‐Eastern nation modelled on Western European lines, bringing together heterogeneous ethnic and cultural groups, Israeli women are now rapidly entering management, and the factors responsible for this change are analysed here. Girls are conscripted at 18 for compulsory military service, and Yehudit Har‐Gad, herself a career soldier and currently a colonel in the Israeli army, investigated military service as a factor—along with race and domestic responsibility—in increasing the proportion of managers in Israel who are women. The career development of women and men with the same educational background and qualifications are compared. Professor Teddy Weinshall reports.