Women in the Six Day War through the eyes of the media

Abstract

On the basis of a content analysis of 168 news items dealing with women in the two largest-circulation newspapers in Israel, this article investigates whether there was any change in the news media's representation of women during the Six Day War. The results indicate that while there was little change in women's representation in quantitative terms, that is, their visibility remained low, there were differences in qualitative terms. Whereas women typically appear in the news as victims, this type of representation was rare in the Six Day War, when women were represented in the context of the collective rather than the private sphere. Thus, the image of the “egotistical woman” was replaced by that of the “woman volunteer,” while the wife/mother image appeared in the national context during the war. However, once the war was over, women returned to their private world, and the image of the woman soldier as a sexual object also reappeared. Rather than enabling women to redefine their relations with men, the nation and the state, the war underlined their traditional gender roles.

Keywords:

• Israeli women
• news media
• private/public sphere
• patriarchal gender roles
• Six Day War

Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to Dafna Lemish, Anat First, and Hagar Lahav for their help in preparing this article.

Notes

 1. Ridd, “Powers of the Powerless,” 1.

 2. Caspi and Limor, Ha-metavkhim, 57–63.

 3. Tuchman, “Introduction,” 40–46.

 4. Gill, Gender and the Media, 44.

 5. Kama, “Kri'ah pe'ilah,” 159–62.

 6. Byerly and Ross, Women and Media, 40–44. Gallagher, Global Media, 4.

 7. Byerly and Ross, Women and Media, 40–44.

 8. First, “All Women Should Cry,” 35–61; Lemish, “Exclusion and Marginality,” 42–43.

 9. Gallagher, Global Media, 43–47. This was found also in Israel: Lemish, Osim ve-osot, 5.

10. Lemish, “Media Gendering of War and Conflict,” 275.

11. Tidhar and Lemish, “Women in the Intifada,” 116–41.

12. Fogiel-Bijaoui, “Nashim ve-ezrahut,” 50.

13. Kamir, Kvod adam, 76–78.

14. Herzog, “Likrat shihrur ha-ishah,” 419–436.

15. Safran. Lo rotzot, 69.

16. Berkovitch. “Ezrahut ve-imahut,” 206–43.

17. Herzog, “Yeda,” 270–71.

18. Herzog, “Yeda,”, 281.

19. Sasson-Levy. Zehuyot be-madim, 15–20.

20. Helman, “Tzva'iyut ve-militarizm,” 349. Herzog, “Migdar,” 225.

21. Tydor-Baumel. “‘Hayinu sham’,” 439.

22. Tamar Lubushinski-Katako, “Dmut ha-lohemet ha-yehudiyah be-milhemet ha-olam ha-shniyah: Skirah historit (The image of the Jewish woman fighter during World War II: A historical survey) [January 14, 2004], available at http://www.aka.idf.il/yohalan/main/main.asp?catID = 26223 (accessed 29 December 2008); Tydor-Baumel. “‘Hayinu sham’,” 439.

23. Tamar Lubushinski-Katako, “Dmut ha-lohemet ha-yehudiyah be-milhemet ha-olam ha-shniyah: Skirah historit (The image of the Jewish woman fighter during World War II: A historical survey) [January 14, 2004], available at http://www.aka.idf.il/yohalan/main/main.asp?catID = 26223 (accessed 29 December 2008); Tydor-Baumel. “‘Hayinu sham’,”, 440.

24. Jerabi, Ha-mehir ha-kaful, 66–72. However, more combat roles are becoming available to women now. See Sasson-Levy. Zehuyot be-madim, 42–48.

25. Buber Agassi, “Matzavan shel nashim,” 227.

26. Sasson-Levy, Zehuyot be-madim, 43–45.

27. For example, Segev, 1967; Bar Zohar, Ha-hodesh.

28. Bernstein, “Heker nashim,” 24.

29. As this study was primarily interested in a qualitative examination, references to men and women were not compared in quantitative terms. As noted above, numerous studies conducted in Israel and elsewhere over the years clearly indicate the quantitative exclusion of women from the news.

30. Gallagher, Global Media, 52–53. Lemish, Osim ve-osot, 6.

31. Gallagher, Global Media, 52.

32. Each reference to a different woman was counted. Multiple references to the same woman were counted only once.

33. The four figures accounted for 17 of the 22 roles identified.

34. Tydor-Baumel. “‘Hayinu sham’,” 439–41.

35. Ma'ariv, 28 May 1967, 7.

36. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 25 May 1967, 3.

37. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 12 June 1967, 11.

38. Ma'ariv, 30 May 1967, 3.

39. Ariel, “Female and Male Stereotypes,” 147–69.

40. Ma'ariv, 30 May 1967, 3.

41. Ma'ariv, 26 May 1967, 19.

42. Shachar, “The Israeli Womb,” 22–26. For more on the meaning of the womb in Israeli society, see Lemish and Barzel, ‘“Four Mothers’,” 147–69.

43. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 4 June 1967, 7.

44. Ma'ariv, 31 May 1967, 7.

45. Herzog, “Nashim ba-politikah,” 335.

46. Ma'ariv, 5 June 1967, 15.

47. Ma'ariv, 31 May 1967, 5.

48. Ma'ariv, 2 June 1967, 17.

49. Zanger, “Hole in the Moon”, 95–102.

50. Ma'ariv, 9 June 1967, 14. The lyrics and music were written during the war, and the song was recorded by the Israel Broadcasting Authority after the war; telephone interview with Shulamit Livnat, 29 September 2007. (English translation by Sarah Kitai.)

51. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 11 June 1967, 6.

52. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 1 June 1967, 2.

53. She was often referred to in the press as the “castrating woman” in the context of her relations with Yigal Allon and Dayan. Shapira, “Golda,” 62.

54. Almog, Preidah mi-Srulik, 880.

55. Teveth, Moshe Dayan, 567.

56. Teveth, Moshe Dayan, 567 Chazan, “Me'oravuto shel iton Ha'aretz,” 116–75.

57. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 2 June 1967, 4.

58. Telephone interview with Herzliya Ron, one of the founders of the League of Women Voters, 18 September 2007.

59. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 28 May 1967, 7. Frederika Segal, an architect, bohemian, and celebrity who owned a discotheque in north Tel Aviv, was nicknamed “the queen of Tel-Aviv's night life.” Almog, Preidah mi-Srulik, 886, 1141. It seems that the term “disco-priestess” refers to a woman who spent most of her time at this discotheque.

60. Ma'ariv, 2 June 1967, 16.

61. Almog, Preidah mi-Srulik, 886.

62. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 31 May 1967, 1.

63. Ma'ariv, 30 May 1967, 4.

64. Yedi'ot Aharonot, 13 June 1967, 13.

65. This has been demonstrated by a variety of examples from different parts of the world; Ridd, “Powers of the Powerless,” 1–24.

66. Tidhar and Lemish, “Women in the Intifada,” 142–59.

67. Ridd, “Powers of the Powerless,” 4.

68. Naveh, “Ha-havayah ha-yisre'elit,” 316.

69. Limor and Mann, Itona'ut, 47.

70. Barzilai, “Medinah, hevrah,” 180.

71. Zemer, “Beterem,” 236.