CONTRIBUTION TO THE COLLECTIVE BY RELIGIOUS-ZIONIST ADOLESCENT GIRLS

The act of contribution to the collective raises a major dilemma in co ntemporary religious Zionism in regard to girls and women: how to main tain their traditional restriction to the domestic sphere while allowi ng participation in national tasks that demand their presence in the m ale-dominated public sphere. From in-depth interviews conducted with 3 7 seventeen-year-old religious girls studying in a uni-sex residential boarding high school, we uncover the manner in which these girls, as they proceed to young adulthood, experience the act of contribution in three social arenas: the Bnei Akiva youth movement, national service and the domestic sphere. Our analysis reveals a gradual recruitment to contribution during the passage from girlhood to womanhood, parallele d by the gradual intensification of 'feminine' qualities. This process facilitates the girls' participation in the public sphere without cha llenging the traditional gender dichotomy. It also constitutes a centr al practice by means of which religious-Zionist society recruits the g irls to the Israeli collective yet keeps them within its own socio-cul tural boundaries.