A common rite of passage for boys and men is joining the military. In some countries, military service is mandatory for men, and occasionally women too. It is also completely voluntary in other countries, but either way the field is dominated by men. As a rite of passage for young adult males, being in the military is considered to be a form of asserting and proving one’s masculinity.
To exemplify how joining the military is a rite of passage, I consider Gennep’s three stages of initiation: separation, transition and incorporation (1960).
The first stage, separation, is the removal of a boy from his community and the stripping of his current identity. In terms of the military, this includes shaving one’s head and losing one’s personal identifiers to conform to military standards and protocols.
The second stage, transition, is the time a boy spends away from his community to undergo the rituals of becoming a man. For example, serving in the military involves going through physical and emotional hardships in an unfamiliar space away from home which can be incredibly draining and challenging.
Lastly, incorporation is the celebration of a boy becoming a man and returning to his community with a new identity that displays his manhood. Generally when military men come home after serving time, they are celebrated by both their country and their loved ones.
Arguably, joining the military is one of the only remaining true rites of passages in many societies as it provides all three of these stages. Many initiations to manhood now emphasize one stage and ignore the rest, such as the bar mitzvah, which focuses on the last stage of incorporation (Raphael, 1988, p. 18).
But what is prioritized in the military, which is a male-dominated space? How does an emphasis on becoming a man through the military ignore women and their experiences?
Israel has compulsory military service for both men and women (Klein, 2002, p. 671). However, men serve for three years while women only serve two, and even then women rarely finish the total time period (p. 671). There are also many additional factors that prevent women from joining the military such as education level (p. 672), but religion seems to be the only basis in which a man can be exempt from their service (p. 671-672).
Because military service in Israel is compulsory, it is considered to be a rite of passage of male adulthood (Klein, 2002, p. 673). This initiation begins early on as schools prepare young men for joining the military by holding lectures, showing films and encouraging physical exercise (p. 673). These techniques ingrain the importance of the military into boys, and causes them to see their involvement in the military as important to uphold society’s norms and values (p. 673). In addition, due to its compulsory nature, being in the military becomes a collective identity for boys and men.
With this focus on men's initiation, women are often left out. In the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), there is a sexual division of labour as men take on roles of defense while women take on auxiliary roles (Klein, 2002, p. 676). As a result, the battlefield remains a place for men and male bonding (p. 677).
This emphasis on men as warriors and fighters creates a community for men, but it also encourages the marginalization of women (Klein, 2002, p. 679). Without an equal role in the military, women are seen as incapable of fully defending the country, and traditional gender norms are reinforced.
In addition, the environment that men experience in the military allows them to forge deeper connections that help them once their service is complete (Klein, 2002, p. 679). On the other hand, women do not accumulate this same social capital because their work is not as valued and there is not the same sense of comradeship in auxiliary roles (p. 679).
Furthermore, previous military service is also necessary to participate in Israel's public office. Because women face more challenges when entering the military, they are less likely to be able to hold power in politics (Klein, 2002, p. 680).
While women are allowed to join the military, their experiences far differ from their male counterparts. Because the IDF holds such importance in Israeli society and male rite of passages, women lose out on opportunities within and beyond the military because their roles are not seen as equal to men’s.
In this case, a rite of passage for boys reinforces traditional norms and requires women to submit. Despite allowing women into the space, they are still disregarded and reduced because of their gender. Boys and men benefit from this particular initiation into manhood at the disadvantage of women and gender equality.
References:
Gennep, V. A. (1960). The rites of passage. (M. B. Vizedon, Trans.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Klein, U. (2002). The gender perspective of civil-military relations in Israeli society. Current Sociology, 50(5), p. 669-686. doi: 10.1177/0011392102050005004
Raphael, R. (1988). The men from the boys: Rites of passage in male America. USA: University of Nebraska Press.