Navigating Change From Within: The Impact and Challenges of a Women’s Virtual Community in Transforming Gender Dynamics in the Israel Defense Forces

Abstract

This case study of professional military women examines the impact of women-based Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs) on changing gender dynamics in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Through interviews and focus groups with 14 community members, we explored how a virtual community evolved to influence military culture and practices. Our findings revealed three main themes: First, the community had a profound impact on military mothers’ professional lives through mutual support and knowledge sharing. Second, the community influenced existing organizational narratives by creating frameworks for personal solutions and expanding professional networks. Third, the transition from covert information sharing to becoming an influential voice in military discourse involved complex dynamic. The study highlights the significant role of VCoPs in leading gender-oriented organizational change and furthering the understanding of gender dynamics and bottom-up change in organizations. This case study demonstrates how informal networks can effectively influence organizational practices while operating within institutional boundaries.

Despite the growing attention to gender dynamics in military contexts (Karazi-Presler et al., 2018; Levy, 2020; O’Brien et al., 2023; Wadham et al., 2016), there is still limited research on how women drive structural change in these hierarchical and conservative institutions. We aimed to fill this gap by examining how Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs) in a military organization not only empowered its members but helped lead organizational changes to accommodate career women. We present a case study of a women-led VCoP in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This study examined the impact of the Wonder Women VCoP, with the goal of understanding how VCoPs can foster organizational change, challenge patriarchal norms, and support women’s advancement in traditionally masculine environments. This case study details how one VCoP transitioned from an informal community with interest-based sub-groups to a recognized entity influencing institutional practices.

Women in the IDF: Historical Development and Contemporary Challenges

Since its establishment in 1948, the IDF has mandated the conscription of all eligible Israeli citizens, male and female, at the age of 18 (Shafran-Gittleman, 2018). Although the 2000 amendment to the Security Service Law permits opening all military roles to women, except those subject to specific limitations, the reality on the ground is different: recruitment for IDF positions is still primarily based on gender classification, with only 86% of positions open to women (Harel-Shalev & Daphna-Tekoah, 2020). This gender distribution stands in contrast to many Western nations that have already adopted qualification-based recruitment policies driven by a commitment to full equal opportunities (Fieldhouse & O’Leary, 2023).

In the Israeli context, the challenge is particularly complex due to cultural and political considerations. Specifically, the issue of mixed-gender service alongside religious soldiers is a factor that significantly influences organizational decision-making (Ben-Shalom et al., 2019; Levy, 2010, 2020). Following petitions submitted to the Supreme Court on this matter, in 2007 a committee recommended the integration of women into elite units, emphasizing professional criteria over gender considerations (Shahar-Druk & Druk, 2023).

Over 12 years, the number of women serving as combat soldiers increased sixfold, from 435 in 2005 to 2,700 in 2017 (Eran-Jona & Padan, 2018). Today, women are integrated into light infantry, the Border Police, the Home Front Command’s search and rescue units, air defense, Navy diving and towing units, electronic warfare, and the field intelligence corps. As of 2020, women comprised approximately 33% of IDF recruits (Harel-Shalev & Daphna-Tekoah, 2020).

According to the IDF spokesperson’s data (Shoresh, 2022), women make up 45% of the officers in the ranks of second lieutenant and lieutenant, and 30% in the ranks of captain and major. Beyond the rank of major, women’s proportion drops sharply: 20% in the rank of lieutenant colonel, 10% in the rank of colonel, 4% in the rank of brigadier general, and 6% in the rank of major general.

Significant challenges persist despite progress. Already in 2007, Sasson-Levy and Amram-Katz suggested that regendering processes raise opposition from religious groups seeking to maintain established gender inequalities. Levy (2020) later documented growing resistance from religious segments in Israeli society opposing women’s integration in combat roles, whereas H. & Bar-Schindler (2022) revealed resistance within the military itself, particularly from old-generation commanders regarding women’s professional advancement and command positions.

As in many armies worldwide, the IDF is undergoing a process of adapting to women in influential positions (Harel-Shalev & Daphna-Tekoah, 2020; Wadham et al., 2016). However, while the IDF’s operational environment requires women’s continuous involvement in a high-threat environment and various emergency situations in Israel, their work-home balance experience differs from their counterparts in other militaries. Unlike Western armies, such as those of Australia, Canada, the U.S., or the Nordic countries, women in the IDF serve relatively close to home and within the country’s borders, which, in theory, facilitates maintaining a work-family balance (Ahlbäck et al., 2024; Fieldhouse & O’Leary, 2023; Reizer et al., 2023).

At the same time, Sasson-Levy and Amram-Katz (2007) note that, unlike other Western armies that have undergone significant acculturation processes with the entry of women into their ranks, the IDF’s reality differs. They suggested that women’s service in the IDF does not necessarily signify gender equality in the organization; in fact, the army often maintains a hierarchical gender regime and a deeply masculine culture. Whereas other armies have undergone adaptation processes, including changes in codes of language and gender behavior and even reorganization of physical structures, the changes in the IDF have been slower and more culturally challenging (Harel-Shalev & Daphna-Tekoah, 2020; Shahar-Druk & Druk, 2023).

In response to these challenges, the IDF developed various initiatives, such as mentoring programs for female officers, adjusting service tracks for families, and setting targets for integrating women into key positions (Shafran-Gittleman, 2018). However, change is slow and requires continuous management of deep-rooted cultural and organizational challenges.

Organizational Narratives and Gender Identity in the Military

Organizations create narratives to define perceptions of reality, reinforce cohesion, and imbue meaning for those who adopt them (Acker, 1990; Hearn & Collinson, 2017). Analyzing these narratives can reveal the underlying organizational culture and the organization’s evolving social structures (Cheryan & Markus, 2020; Ely & Meyerson, 2000).

Two main types of narratives emerge in organizational contexts. Ontological narratives are the official stories articulated by the organization to communicate its essence, goals, and the foundational structure of working relationships (Scott, 1986), whereas conceptual narratives are the alternative stories developed by individuals or subgroups that offer a different perspective on the organization. Conceptual narratives, in particular, allow researchers to examine the identities, roles, and nuanced experiences of individuals and smaller groups within the broader organizational framework (Budrytė & Vainauskienė, 2023; Foulidi & Papakitsos, 2020).

In the military context, the ontological narrative is based on the values of heroism and sacrifice for a greater cause or higher purpose (Do & Samuels, 2021). In the Israeli context, the IDF’s founding and central narratives is that of a “people’s army” (Hadar & Häkkinen, 2020), implying the obligation of all citizens to serve. This narrative sometimes contradicts the reality for IDF women, who, over the years, have been excluded from certain combat roles and promotions (Ben-Shalom et al., 2019). Despite the changes in recent years regarding the inclusion of women in prized security and combat positions (H. & Bar-Schindler, 2022; Shafran-Gittleman, 2018), the conceptual narrative of male security personnel remained dominant, especially in senior positions (Karazi-Presler et al., 2018).

Gender narratives in the military are influenced by traditional perceptions of masculinity and physical strength. Karazi-Presler et al. (2018) argued that the Israeli military maintains a hierarchical gender regime and a deeply masculine culture, even as women are integrated into combat roles. These narratives affect the identity of female soldiers, who are often required to adopt “masculine” behaviors to succeed. Although the hierarchical system and male-dominated culture have long been entrenched in the army’s identity, the gradual integration of women into combat roles presents a challenge to this narrative. By adapting to fit into combat roles, women demonstrate the diverse competencies they bring to military units, thereby benefiting the organization as a whole (Shahar-Druk & Druk, 2023). This process is an example of a narrative shift that affects gender perceptions in the organization.

Upon analyzing gender dynamics, it becomes evident that alternative narratives often arise from a need to articulate and challenge the gendered inequities in male-dominated organizations (Keenoy et al., 1997; Vaara et al., 2016). Harel-Shalev and Daphna-Tekoah (2020) emphasized that personal narratives, much like conceptual narratives, challenge the dominant masculine framework by offering a counter-story highlighting women’s struggles, coping mechanisms, and the gendered dynamics often silenced in official narratives. An examination and comparison of these narratives (i.e., personal, conceptual, and ontological) can yield a better understanding of how virtual communities of women can serve as a lever for gender change in military organizations, where patriarchal and hierarchical narratives remain dominant (Katzenstein, 1999; Vaara et al., 2016).

Women’s VCoP and Their Influence on Organizational Change

Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner (2015) defined VCoP as “groups of people who share an interest or passion for something they do and learn to do it better through regular interaction” (p. 2). These communities help to connect employees to the organization, improve knowledge management, and encourage innovation (Cohen & Netzer, 2023; Dei & van der Walt, 2020; Eitan & Gazit, 2023). Even without a physical location, VCoPs promote social action, create shared social capital, and produce a system of symbols that can change the organization from the bottom up (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015). Community leaders significantly influence the topics discussed, the type of knowledge transmitted, and the shaping of the boundaries of discourse (Eitan & Gazit, 2023; Kohntopp & McCann, 2020; Schulte et al., 2020).

Studies have shown that the gender composition of virtual communities affects the style and content of their communication (Foulidi & Papakitsos, 2020; Schulte et al., 2020). In women’s communities, shared comprise is a more dominant topic than organizational structure and hierarchy (H. & Bar-Schindler, 2022). Miño-Puigcercós et al. (2019) found that these groups facilitate women’s free expression, enabling them to share gender-relevant experiences without fear of hostile reaction.

Women’s VCoPs provide a safe space for transferring knowledge and experience, as well as the potential to promote dialogue between the individual and the organization (Syafira & Mulyono, 2024; Wang et al., 2022). Thus, VCoPs may take on the features of a radical group that challenges an existing social or organizational structure by contesting formal power relations, especially in organizations based on hierarchy (Budrytė & Vainauskienė, 2023). However, unlike radical groups, this type of activism that originates in a virtual framework can continue into the actual organizational space. The study highlights the role of women’s VCoPs in the IDF in advancing organizational change from the bottom up.

Wonder Women: IDF Virtual-Intracommunity of Professional Soldiers

Within this context, two career military women established a virtual community in 2016 to provide support and knowledge for other professional women in the IDF. Eight years later, one of the women, H., continues to serve as its administrator and leader. Wonder Women was established to provide a forum for sharing experiences related to parenting while serving in the military, with the specific purpose of offering information and support to IDF women on maternity leave or in the process of returning to active duty in the military organization. Over time, beginning with platforms such as private Facebook and WhatsApp groups, the community grew, and several members formed subcommunities to address additional specific issues. These sub-groups addressed topics such as female career soldiers undergoing fertility treatment and pregnant or breastfeeding soldiers. In addition, they provided career advice, discussions about relevant roles, command issues, and forum-based presentations, among other issues. At the time of the current study, the community numbered more than 4,000 women (H. & Bar-Schindler, 2022; H., personal communication, September 21, 2024).

The VCoP referred to as “Wonder Women,” consciously redefines the traditional Hebrew term “Eshet Hayil” (Woman of Valor), ¹ choosing to identify with the modern superhero Wonder Woman character, who embodies strength and warrior capabilities. The Wonder Women community is unique in several respects. Unlike typically top-down groups instituted within larger organizations, this community was founded by the members, specifically women career soldiers, to serve their own needs. Like other VCoPs (e.g., Miño-Puigcercós et al., 2019), Wonder Women provided a safe environment within a predominantly male military organization where women in career service could freely exchange advice, support, and opinions. The community has maintained continuous daily activity for several years, with membership steadily growing, demonstrating the importance of informal communities in military contexts (H. & Bar-Schindler, 2022; Schulte et al., 2020). For 2 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to its virtual format on platforms, the community organized more than 30 face-to-face meetings at various locations, including members’ homes and children’s playgrounds, further strengthening the bonds among its members. Over the years, the community has not been officially recognized by the IDF; however, it has become an influential voice that commanders take into consideration when making decisions. These unique features contributed to the influence of Wonder Women on changes in the IDF, paying specific attention to the women in career service.

The current study focuses on the distinctive intersection between VCoPs, gender, and military organizations. Previous studies emphasized the importance of VCoPs in organizational knowledge management (e.g., Dei & van der Walt, 2020) and examined gender dynamics in the Israeli army (Karazi-Presler et al., 2018). The study expands on these insights to examine the influence of an informal women’s group on organizational change in the military context. Building on prior work on VCoPs (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015) and organizational narratives (Vaara et al., 2016), the goal of this study is to understand how women use these groups to create and promote alternative narratives that lead to organizational change. The study’s goals align with the work of Katzenstein (1999) on gender activism in organizations, extending the context to the military.

We posited a central research question: How do informal VCoPs of women in the military influence organizational change processes? Additional questions include: (1) What role does the VCoP play in the professional and personal lives of women serving in the military?; (2) how do VCoPs challenge and modify existing gender narratives?; and (3) What challenges are involved in the transition from a covert to an overt space within the military organization?

Method

Research Design

This study employed a qualitative case study method, adopting a phenomenological approach. Drawing on Yin’s (2013) conceptual framework and adopting Stebbins’s (2001) approach, we explored the unique features of a specific phenomenon by investigating the sense of belonging and well-being of the women in this community, adhering to the principle that insights from a single case study can be generalized to broader contexts.

Data Collection

The data collection process comprised three phases of semi-structured interviews (Adeoye-Olatunde & Olenik, 2021). In the first phase, we conducted a virtual video interview with Wonder Women’s co-founder to understand the community’s core mission and establishment rationale. The second phase involved a focus group with seven of the 13 VCoP managers, exploring their motivations for joining, management approaches, and perspectives on community dynamics (Charmaz & Thornberg, 2021). Finally, we extended an invitation to all community members to share their personal experiences. Eight members responded, participating in individual interviews that focused on their personal narratives and experiences within the community.

The interview protocols were tailored to each group: leadership-focused questions for the founder, management-oriented discussions with the VCoP managers, and experience-based narratives from individual members. This multi-layered approach aimed to capture diverse perspectives and validate our interpretations of the community’s impact on organizational change.

Our academic institution’s ethics committee approved this study. All sessions were recorded and transcribed with the participants’ consent. Each interviewee and focus group were told that the conversation could be halted at any time. The interviews were conducted in Hebrew. Pseudonyms were used for the participants’ names. Except in the case of the co-founder, information about military units and positions that could be used to identify participants are described vaguely to ensure confidentiality. We received approval to reveal the VCoP’s name by the co-founder.

Participants

Sixteen community members shared their views on their community. The participants were women with varied ranks, military seniority, and military positions. The interviewees’ ages ranged from 25 to 38. Most were mothers (n = 14) and served in the organization at mid-level ranks, ranging from captain to lieutenant colonel, with only a few participants at a higher rank (colonel) or lower rank (lieutenant or warrant officer). The participants served in various roles: administrative (57%), technological (15%), and professional (28%), such as legal, logistics, and computing.

Data Coding

The data analysis followed Charmaz and Thornberg’s (2021) methodology for data coding, which involves reading the interview transcripts multiple times to identify initial codes and emerging themes. Although our familiarity with the field aided in understanding nuances in participant transcripts, we maintained rigor through critical teamwork and reflection (Casula et al., 2021; Stebbins, 2001). The process progressed from identifying codes related to the research questions and emergent themes, to grouping these into first-order and then second-order thematic categories. All authors analyzed code frequency across various aspects including community establishment and activity, rationales, advantages and time perspectives. Throughout this process, we compared our analyses and discussed discrepancies until reaching consensus, organizing the final categories under agreed-upon logical frameworks with clear definitions for each central theme.

Results

Three central themes emerged from the interviews based on the participants’ personal and communal narratives describing their work in the military and illustrate the concurrent practices and knowledge shared in the Wonder Women community as well as the community’s influence on its members and on the military. These themes will be described along with illustrative quotes from participants.

Theme 1: The Impact of the Community on the Lives of Mothers Serving in the Military

This theme focuses on how the virtual community supports women who combine military careers with motherhood, while dealing with the unique challenges of serving in a male-dominated hierarchical organization. The participants revealed how organizational practices create unique challenges for work-family balance, and how the community serves as a crucial support system for navigating these challenges. Hanna (a pseudonym for the co-founder of the Wonder Women community) outlines the marginalization experienced by women during maternity leave:

We set up Wonder Women [to] bridge the gap in bonding and networking that was created by women giving birth, moving aside for a few months . . . you’re alone. Suddenly, I’m at home with a baby. . . and the dissonance between that and what I was before seems to be very strong. . . you suddenly find that you need to search for information.

The quote illustrates Hanna’s motivation for establishing the community due to the complete disconnect she felt from her army career during maternity leave, partly due to communications security. The VCoP responded to this need by sharing non-confidential information and offering support.

This initial response to coping with feelings of isolation evolved into a broader platform addressing career-family challenges, as Miriam describes:

The VCoP encompasses a discourse on career vs. home and the tension and dilemmas in these areas, issues related to specific groups regarding childbirth and maternity leave. . . and other dilemmas like whether to remain in the career army. . .something about the experience of Wonder Women helped me sort things out.

The significance of this mutual support is further emphasized by Ilana, who highlights the shared experiences that bind the community together:

You can call it a partnership of fate. Ours is a social community. . . the values are based on a mutual guarantee and commitment stemming from a common denominator. . .my lifestyle and yours are very, very similar because we are [women] serving in the army. We may also both be mothers and career women who want to advance.

Ilana’s words underscore the multifaceted challenges faced by women in this context and express the sense of camaraderie and mutual guarantee among the women who formed the basis for the establishment of the VCoP.

Similarly, Gadot emphasized the value of the VCoP’s mature membership compared with the military’s formal support structure:

The bottom line is that the officer in charge of soldiers’ welfare is merely a young women usually in her early twenties serving in her regular army service, and [in the VCoP] I have the opportunity [to consult] with a slightly wider community of women, with [veteran] commanders who have family and experience and have been through a thing or two in their lives.

This quote illustrates a fundamental structural challenge within the IDF support system: the personnel who are officially designated to provide welfare assistance are typically young conscripts (ages 18–21) with limited life experience fulfilling their mandatory service. In contrast, the VCoP offers career soldiers like Gadot access to seasoned officers who understand the nuanced challenges of balancing military careers with family responsibilities—expertise not readily available through the organization’s formal channels.

In summary this theme reveals how the VCoP addresses the complexity of women’s lives as a minority within an organization with a dominant masculine culture. For these women, the community serves as an essential platform for sharing information, providing support, and connecting with others who face similar challenges, particularly those related to balancing the demands of motherhood with a military career. The networked and egalitarian model of the VCoP enabled community members to navigate career-life transitions while supporting each other through various phases of motherhood during their service.

Theme 2: The Role of Virtual Communities in Shaping Organizational Narratives and Informal Advocacy

The discourse in the VCoP network established patterns of engagement that evolved into organizational activism aimed at challenging and reshaping the military’s traditional gender narrative. This activism manifested in three main areas while maintaining alignment with military values: (1) developing formal organizational solutions from community initiatives; (2) creating alternative channels for professional advancement; and (3) influencing institutional practices and communication patterns.

Developing Formal Organizational Solutions

A significant example of the VCoP’s impact on organizational practices emerged from the Lionesses sub-group, as Gadot describes:

I am also a member of a Wonder Women sub-group called Lionesses; this is a group of women who have had a stillbirth. . . A very close friend of mine, after going through this painful experience, shared a heartfelt post in the community to express her emotions. That single post sparked an initiative that ultimately led the army to establish a dedicated center for expectant mothers— a center providing support for pregnancy, parenting, and childbirth. It’s incredible to see how a virtual community can drive such meaningful organizational change.

This example demonstrates how the community transformed individual experiences into institutional solutions. The creation of the center represents a fundamental shift in organizational narrative from viewing pregnancy and childbirth as personal matters to recognizing them as requiring systematic organizational support.

Creating Alternative Channels for Professional Advancement

Beyond providing emotional and social support, the community has become a central tool for advancing women’s careers in the military, bypassing traditional promotion mechanisms that are predominantly controlled by men. Within the Wonder Women group, female soldiers of various ranks can leverage internal information shared by community members regarding employment opportunities and available positions. Miriam explains how the community enables women to navigate the organization in ways that were previously inaccessible to them:

There are many women here in key military positions. If someone wants to change roles, she can anonymously post in the forum what she is looking for, and the information circulates in a much more diverse and comprehensive manner than what is available through the military’s official channels.

In contrast to traditional promotion channels that rely on male-dominated informal networks, the community has established an alternative network that assists female officers in finding new positions, accessing career advancement pathways, and building professional connections that support their progression within the system. As a traditionally male organization, the military cultivated informal networks based on gender, exemplified by the “old boys’ club” mentality that often excluded women from critical discussions about career advancement. Rona describes this culture:

I see the mothers [in the career army] everywhere . . . most of their environment is very tough male, and maybe they are also a kind of persecuted minority—I don’t like to use the word “persecuted,” but I will say it—within a male chauvinist macho organization. Maybe that’s also what helped them . . . we really, really need each other. And they have their cliques . . . the jokes. . . I was also in such units, you know, it’s the “guy” jokes. . . so that’s how they also ensure [advancing] to positions and many other things in the army.

Influencing Institutional Practices and Communication Patterns

The VCoP created alternative professional networks to challenge the exclusionary culture, establishing new channels for information sharing and vital knowledge that are accessible to women while maintaining respect for the military’s formal structure. To improve women’s service experience, the community developed systematic approaches to address women’s challenges within the constraints of organizational practices. In this process of change, Shira, an Air Force senior soldier, elaborates on the daily challenges women face in combat roles:

The difficulty of being a mother among a group of men who work in emergency mode all the time. It’s not office work, so for example when needing to pump milk in the operations room when space is tight, or missing the timing because of the need to get an aircraft airborne, having to pour milk down the sink instead of storing it for the baby.

After consulting with the VCoP, Shira understood that advocacy for nursing mothers needed to be systemic. These testimonies highlight how the VCoP became a platform for raising awareness and addressing the unique challenges faced by women in combat units by pushing for organization-wide change. Both men and women in the IDF are parents, but there was a clear need to acknowledge that capable professional women were at a disadvantage relative to career military men who became fathers. These examples demonstrate how the VCoP fundamentally transformed the military’s gender narrative from one that viewed women’s personal and professional challenges as individual issues to one that recognized them as systemic organizational matters requiring institutional solutions.

Another significant testament to this change is the IDF’s official recognition of the value of internal communities, as demonstrated by the appointment of an officer and member of the Wonder Women community to the role of initiating and developing communities within the military organization. The creation of this position reflects the organization’s acknowledgment of the effectiveness of the model established by communities like Wonder Women, which serve as vital channels for addressing personnel needs, enhancing operational effectiveness, and fostering community development from within the institutional framework. Indeed, although the Wonder Women community has maintained its extraterritorial status to preserve its independence and grassroots character, its influence has directly contributed to an organizational shift in recognizing how gender-responsive approaches enhance, rather than undermine, military capability. Thus, the VCoP succeeded in redefining military effectiveness by demonstrating that supporting women’s professional growth and addressing their needs ultimately serves the organization’s core mission.

What began as small changes developed into significant systemic influences through strategic engagement with senior leadership. The community manager recalls a pivotal moment when she was invited to meet with the Head of Personnel Division to formally introduce the Wonder Women community: “. . .He said: ‘We love people who swim against the current and keep doing it..’ . .”

This initial recognition was followed by a series of increasingly significant interactions with military leadership, including the Chief of Staff, who dedicated considerable time to learning about the community during a special session on organizational innovation. The community’s influence continued to expand through meetings with the Surgeon General concerning women’s health care needs, the Head of the Technology and Logistics Directorate, who acknowledged the valuable work being completed by community volunteers, and the Head of Military Intelligence, who invited the community leader to facilitate the IDF’s Women’s Day conference.

In summary, the transformation operated on three levels: (1) establishing women’s needs as organizational responsibilities, (2) developing professional advancement channels that enhanced military structure, and (3) integrating gender considerations into operational effectiveness. This comprehensive shift in the organizational narrative led to concrete institutional changes while strengthening, not compromising, military capabilities. The VCoP thus succeeded in redefining what constitutes military effectiveness by demonstrating that supporting women’s professional growth and addressing their needs ultimately serves the organization’s core mission.

Theme 3: Challenges in Transitioning the Community’s Activism From a Covert to an Overt Space in the Military Organization

The transition of the Wonder Women community from covert to overt activism presented both opportunities and challenges. This evolution required careful navigation of institutional boundaries while maintaining the community’s grassroots character. As demonstrated by the community’s success, Nira describes how Wonder Women effectively integrated into the military’s rigid hierarchy, where informal initiatives are often seen as disruptive:

Today, some of the glass ceilings have indeed been broken . . . Senior military officials have commented in the community’s conversation, such as the head of senior staff or the HR chief [head of military personnel]. It has raised women’s problems to the forefront . . . the VCoP has managed to be more than just a network group. The community is already dictating practice.

By balancing structural challenges with adherence to military protocols, the community advanced gender issues without provoking institutional resistance. This strategic positioning enabled dialogue with senior officials and transformed Wonder Women into a force shaping military practices, demonstrating that addressing women’s needs enhances military effectiveness. This evolution occurred in three distinct phases.

In the first phase, activity was covert and focused primarily on individual support. As Neta describes:

Behind the scenes, there are so many appeals and networks that are invisible. . . this shows high trust. . . often female career soldiers don’t need to post in the community anymore to get what they need. Because they already live the environment in a way that they know who the players are.

In the second phase, as the community grew, the organization became aware of their existence. This initial recognition required adaptations to continue advocacy work for military woman and at the same time preserve the essential character of the community. Wonder Women leaders explain how this adaptation was achieved:

The army embraces the Wonder Women community because it meets the concept of modern femininity today, because it meets the codes of open management, because the community has received recognition from hundreds of women in the organization, because the community is careful to maintain values that match those of the organization such as integrity and confidentiality.

This recognition was earned through developing careful protocols for engaging with the organization. The community established clear boundaries, as expressed by Hannah:

[A woman’s] appeal [to the community] for assistance [is done] only after she has contacted the relevant IDF representatives. . . it is important for us not to bypass the IDF help centers.

This phase was characterized by careful navigation of organizational boundaries, as Orna emphasizes: “Because we’re in the military and we’re not allowed to unionize. . . all changes must come very gently.”

The third phase marked the community’s evolution from tactical interventions to strategic influence on military decision-making. As Miriam describes:

If initially it was focused more on emotional and parental areas, over the years it became much more functional in many more areas like career counseling, information about vacant positions, consultation about organizing military events or lectures, exchanging views about command and instruction.

This expanded influence was achieved while maintaining the community’s independence. Hannah describes it as “An entrepreneurial platform that isn’t under anyone’s authority in the organization. . . everything I do is tailor-made and hands-on, with many community members who are the asset and resource of the community.” Hannah further explains how this model worked:

Wonder Women provides an alternative to the bottlenecks [of information], and at the same time, women from the VCoP took all this good out into the people under their command [in the organization]. Nobody can say that it belongs to them [or that we] did or didn’t meet our targets. What we built [is] our response to so many problems . . . We have this community that solves our problems in a minute.

The success of this approach was validated at the highest levels of military leadership, which culminated in a direct intervention. The Head of the Personnel Division personally called the community manager regarding a sensitive post about pregnancy loss, asking “What should we do?” This conversation led to an unprecedented response where military leadership actively solicited feedback through the community platform, generating hundreds of responses that were then systematically analyzed and presented to relevant military authorities. The resulting data informed the establishment of a dedicated center for fertility and pregnancy support within the military—a concrete institutional change directly stemming from the community’s advocacy.

This evolution illustrates the strategic process through which a covert support network emerged as a recognized organizational voice, fundamentally transforming how the military addresses women’s needs. The community began with small changes that developed into significant systemic influences. The Wonder Women community’s journey demonstrates that such transitions require careful attention to establishing legitimacy through alignment with organizational values while maintaining independent advocacy. This delicate balance enabled the community to achieve influence without compromising its core values and commitment to gender activism within the IDF.

These themes highlight three key aspects of the VCoP’s impact and evolution in the military organization. First, the community provided crucial support for military mothers by creating an egalitarian network. Second, the community transformed the organizational narrative about women’s needs from individual issues to systemic matters requiring institutional solutions. Third, the community successfully navigated the transition from a covert support network to an influential organizational voice while maintaining its independence. Together, these findings demonstrate how informal networks can effect change within hierarchical organizations while preserving their grassroots character.

Discussion

This study examined how a VCoP founded by women for women working in the military influenced organizational change. Our findings revealed that the community created alternative narratives emphasizing gender equality and collaboration, successfully challenging traditional patriarchal military structures while maintaining organizational values and effectiveness. Our findings further revealed how the Wonder Women virtual community evolved from a support group into an influential organizational voice. Initially serving as an essential source of support, information, and advice for women in the Israeli military, the community began challenging gender narratives through sharing experiences and creating alternative discourse. The disclosure of common experiences motived community members to engage in active advocacy to promote organizational adaptations to better accommodate military career woman, particularly those with children (Ben-Shalom et al., 2019). As the community gained recognition, while maintaining its informal status, this evolution culminated in significant organizational changes, fundamentally improving both practical aspects of service and women’s professional identity within the military framework (Karazi-Presler et al., 2018).

Wonder Women created a virtual safe space for a female discourse that went beyond the boundaries of the typical organizational discourse, where women share experiences without fear of adverse reactions (Harel-Shalev & Daphna-Tekoah, 2020). This safe space allowed women to balance the demands of professional advancement and personal commitments, offering critical support that enhanced their military service experience and promoted career retention.

The VCoP served dual roles: providing essential support for women balancing career demands with family responsibilities, while simultaneously developing frameworks that demonstrated how this integration could enhance military operations. As the community evolved from an informal support network to a recognized organizational voice, it carefully navigated institutional dynamics by adapting to formal codes and procedures while preserving its distinctive grassroots character. This successful transition illustrates how informal networks can effectively influence organizational practices while operating within institutional boundaries.

The importance of such safe spaces becomes particularly evident in light of recent research. Women in combat units face ongoing structural and cultural challenges affecting their integration and retention (Reizer et al., 2023), making supportive communities particularly crucial. The Wonder Women community has successfully facilitated open discussion of these gender-specific challenges (Karazi-Presler et al., 2018), thus expanding current knowledge about the role of virtual communities in military organizations and highlighting their importance in meeting the distinctive needs of minority group members.

To achieve these dual roles, the community developed distinctive organizational patterns and practices. First, the community developed a distinctive organizational language and communication patterns. Virtual platforms enabled rapid, widespread, and flexible responses that accommodated women’s work schedules (Kohntopp & McCann, 2020; Schulte et al., 2020). This new communal discourse introduced a non-hierarchical matrix communication model, challenging both the traditional organizational structure (Dei & van der Walt, 2020) and the military’s hierarchical narrative by promoting egalitarian and multi-directional dialogue (Keenoy et al., 1997; Williams et al., 2024). Although the Wonder Women community’s emphasis on trust, support, and partnership aligned with core IDF values, it reimagined these values within the virtual community context (Schulte et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2022).

Building on these communication patterns, community-led gender activism resulted in formal initiatives and personal solutions for community members. The VCoP challenged the traditional military hierarchy by establishing direct communication between army career women across ranks and enabling anonymous sharing of job opportunities that effectively created alternative professional networks while respecting formal command structures (Dei & van der Walt, 2020; Schulte et al., 2020). This process challenged the existing hierarchical structure and created a more egalitarian network model. Our findings expand the existing knowledge of bottom-up organizational change processes in military organizations and highlight the VCoPs potential as a tool for organizational change (Karazi-Presler et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2022).

Through these activist practices, a new narrative emerged combining the career woman with family values and combat. This narrative of a “combat-unit career woman” aligns with the military’s narrative of a family of fighters committed to family values in Israeli society. The Israeli context is reflected in Israel having the highest birthrate among OECD countries at 2.9 children per woman (Jewish News Syndicate, 2023).

The emergence of this alternative narrative had significant organizational implications. Adopting the alternative narrative gave the informal community a recognized and accepted place in the organization, aligning with processes described in classic organizational studies (Keenoy et al., 1997) and confirmed in contemporary research (Vaara et al., 2016). Our findings emphasized the VCoP’s need to navigate between its conceptual narrative and the ontological narrative of the organization and make certain adjustments and concessions to fit into the existing organizational framework. These insights expand our understanding of how the gender narrative of VCoPs can influence organizational narratives in the military context.

Understanding this process requires first examining the broader context of military organizational narratives. An army’s ontological narrative typically derives from values of heroism and sacrifice for a higher purpose (Do & Samuels, 2021). In the Israeli context, the IDF’s founding narrative is that it is the “people’s army” (Hadar & Häkkinen, 2020), implying the duty of all citizens to serve. While recent years have seen increased integration of women in combat and security positions (Reizer et al., 2023; Shafran-Gittleman, 2018), this narrative sometimes contradicts the reality for IDF women, who, over the years, have been excluded from certain combat roles and promotions (Ben-Shalom et al., 2019).

Within this organizational context, our findings illustrate how the VCoP not only addressed the challenges faced by combat unit career women but also facilitated their inclusion in the organizational narrative, thereby challenging the traditional masculine identity of the army. This shift highlights the community’s ability to redefine gender roles and contribute to a more inclusive organizational culture. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate the transformative potential of informal VCoPs to challenge and modify deeply rooted gender narratives in hierarchical and masculine organizations, creating space for alternative discourses that highlight women’s contributions and redefine organizational values.

This organizational transformation is particularly evident in the shift from the conventional narrative of family importance for male soldiers to a female perspective of pursuing a military career. The narrative of family as a combatant’s anchor together with intimate relationships converted Wonder Women into a network valuing family alongside career, trust, and support within the military organization (Ben-Shalom et al., 2019; Ely & Meyerson, 2000).

Although these changes were significant, the process of transformation was not without its challenges. The community developed into an interest group that “protests inside institutions” (Katzenstein, 1999, p. 3), hoping to lead to organizational change. Transitional challenges included navigating organizational resistance, adapting to formal codes of conduct, and maintaining the community’s unique identity while aligning with the organization’s hierarchical norms and structure (Dei & van der Walt, 2020; Schulte et al., 2020).

Beyond its immediate impact on the military organization, this study offers broader insights into the role that virtual communities can have in leading gender-focused organizational change. Our findings underscore the potential of online spaces in empowering alternative voices, providing a platform for the unique needs of women, and promoting an inclusive work environment (Miño-Puigcercós et al., 2019; Schulte et al., 2020). At the same time, the study also elucidates the complexity and tensions involved in the VCoP’s transition process from a covert space to an overt one and the need for adjustments and compromises with the existing organizational norms.

At the organizational level, the VCoP created an opening for those not in the prestigious combat units to share their knowledge and expertise, thus increasing their visibility within the organization (Harel-Shalev & Daphna-Tekoah, 2020). Merging narratives has allowed for a new synergy that has driven organizational change by addressing women’s rights and needs. In addition, the VCoP has enhanced organizational communication efficiency and responsiveness to service members’ needs, aligning with the IDF’s recent efforts to improve internal communication channels (Ben-Shalom et al., 2019; Levy, 2020).

Drawing from these findings, our research provides practical guidelines for organizations interested in promoting gender equality. These may include encouraging employee initiatives, creating alternative discourse spaces, and implementing practices adapted to a variety of needs and identities (Budrytė & Vainauskienė, 2023; Karazi-Presler et al., 2018).

In addition to these practical implications, our research makes several theoretical contributions. Theoretically, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of gender dynamics in organizations, bottom-up change processes, and interactions between formal and informal structures (Acker, 1990; Ely & Meyerson, 2000; Hearn & Collinson, 2017). The impact of gender dynamics within an organization can be observed through fostering reflection, diversity, and variety in organizational thinking. These elements can facilitate an examination of personal and organizational actions, an essential move for any organization, particularly military organizations (Karazi-Presler et al., 2018).

Our findings offer valuable insights, but it is important to consider them within the context of the study’s scope. Although this study focused solely on women in a small sample within an Israeli military organization, the revealed gender dynamics and the challenges of integrating women into key positions are universal issues. Thus, the community that has emerged in the IDF and its communication mechanism can be viewed as an applicable working model for other countries encountering similar challenges. Aligning with Casula et al. (2021) and Yin (2013), the study’s insights have external validity that can enhance our understanding of broader social phenomena such as gender integration and organizational change in other centralized and hierarchal organizations worldwide (Reizer et al., 2023; Sasson-Levy & Amram-Katz, 2007; Wadham et al., 2016).

Future research could compare formal and informal women’s VCoPs in the military of different countries to examine differences and similarities in their dynamics, challenges, and impact on the organization. The long-term impact of the VCoP can be collected regarding the promotion rates of women in the army, their satisfaction with their service, and changes in the organizational culture over time. Such research can strengthen the external validity and long-term durability of the findings and provide broader insights into the role of VCoPs in initiating change in organizations in general, and the military in particular.

Conclusion

This case study demonstrated how an informal virtual community effectively leveraged online platforms to influence organizational change in a hierarchical military context by creating alternative narratives that balanced professional excellence with family responsibilities. The community succeeded through the dual mechanisms of providing essential support for women’s professional-personal integration while simultaneously challenging traditional military narratives about gender roles and organizational effectiveness.

The study highlights how virtual platforms can promote gender equality when communities carefully navigate the transition from informal support networks to recognized organizational entities. This process requires maintaining unique community identity while adapting to institutional norms–a balance that Wonder Women achieved through preserving its grassroots character while gaining formal recognition.

The challenges of integrating women into key positions, creating inclusive environments, and transforming organizational culture are universal. This community’s success in balancing informal support with institutional influence, while leveraging technology to create safe spaces for dialogue and knowledge sharing, offers valuable insights for similar initiatives in other hierarchical organizations.

Finally, the study demonstrates that meaningful organizational change requires more than policy modifications; it demands narrative transformation, cultural shifts, and new modes of communication—all achievable through carefully managed bottom-up initiatives combined with institutional support. The Wonder Women community exemplifies how virtual platforms can facilitate these changes while maintaining organizational values and effectiveness.