Growing Segregation by Sex in Israel Raises Fears for Women’s Rights

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ultra-Orthodox members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition want to expand the powers of all-male rabbinical courts, and to bar women and men from mixing in many public arenas.

An ultra-Orthodox man walking past a sign in Bnei Brak, Israel, that urges men to not look at women in the street. | Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times
The trains from Tel Aviv were packed one evening last month when Inbal Boxerman, a 40-year-old mother of two, was blocked by a wall of men as she tried to board. One of them told her that women were not allowed on — the car was for men only.

Ms. Boxerman was stunned. It was a public train operated by Israel Railways, and segregated seating is illegal in the country. The men stopping her appeared to be protesters going home from a rally supporting the governing coalition, which includes extremist religious and far-right parties pushing for more sex segregation and a return to more traditional gender roles.

“I said, ‘For real?’” said Ms. Boxerman, who works in marketing. “And my friend came up and she also said, ‘Are you for real?’ But they just laughed and said, ‘Wait for the next train — you can sit in the way back.’ And then the doors slammed shut.”

Public transportation is the latest front of a culture war in Israel over the status of women in a society that is sharply divided between a secular majority and politically powerful minority of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who frown on the mixing of women and men in public.

Although the Supreme Court has ruled that it is against the law to force women to sit in separate sections on buses and trains, ultra-Orthodox women customarily board buses in their neighborhoods through the rear door and sit in the back. Now, the practice seems to be spreading to other parts of Israel. » | Roni Caryn Rabin, Reporting from Tel Aviv | Saturday, August 12, 2023

'This Is Not Iran' | Israel's Religious and Far-right Parties Demand Law to Legitimize Gender Segregation

HAARETZ: Religious Zionism and United Torah Judaism parties want to legalize separation of men and women at ultra-Orthodox and Orthodox cultural events, education and public services to prevent what they call 'judicial persecution by the legal system'

In exchange for joining the coalition, the far-right Religious Zionism and United Torah Judaism parties have demanded legislation that gender separation at public events will not be considered discrimination. Likud has not yet decided whether to grant the demand.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in response: “While in Iran courageous women are fighting for their rights, in Israel, Smotrich and the ultra-Orthodox nationalists are trying to send women behind barriers and enshrine into law separation between men and women. Where is Likud? Why are they silent? This is not Iran." » | Michael Hauser Tov and Noa Shpigel | Sunday, November 20, 2022

France: The Battle against Gender Segregation in French Suburbs

Related »

Ces quartiers où les femmes sont indésirables (caméra cachée - France 2)

Reportage diffusé au 20h de France 2 le 08/12/16. Ces quartiers où les femmes sont indésirables : cafés interdits, harcèlement de rue, censure vestimentaire. Caméra cachée réalisée avec la Brigade des Mères de Sevran.

THE TELEGRAPH: 'This isn't Paris. It's only men here' - Inside the French Muslim no-go zones where women aren't welcome » | David Chazan, Paris | Sunday, December 18, 2016

Bellica : Femmes entières »

David Cameron Backs Bans on Muslim Face Veils as Tories Plan Crackdown on Gender Segregation

THE TELEGRAPH: Prime Minister says it is 'proper and sensible' for Muslim women to remove face veils when asked to by public officials

Muslim women can be banned from wearing veils in schools, courts and other British institutions, David Cameron has said.

The Prime Minister said that he will give his backing to public authorities that put in place “proper and sensible” rules to ban women from wearing face veils in comments which will reignite debates.

It comes as the Government prepare to announce a series of measures designed to stop British Muslims becoming radicalised and traveling to the Middle East to join terrorist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

As part of the plans, ministers will pledge to outlaw gender segregation during meetings in public buildings amid concerns that some Muslim organisations are forcing women to sit separately. » | Peter Dominiczak, and Steven Swinford | Monday, January 18, 2016

UK Muslim Society Wants Forced Sex Segregation in UK Universities (December 10, 2013)

Some Muslims want to force male and female university students to be seperated in universities, treating them as some kind of relious place - which they are not. Journalist Yasmin Alibhai Brown has a go at Omar Ali, who represents the Federation Of Student Islamic Societies.

In 21st Century Britain, such seperation in schools and universities should NOT be allowed.

Fury over Gender Ban in Bordeaux Muslim Grocery Store

Veiled women in Bordeaux

THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim grocery store in Bordeaux withdraws sign announcing gender-specific days for customers following local and national outcry

The south-eastern French wine capital of Bordeaux is up in arms over a Muslim-owned grocer’s decision to impose male and female-only days for customers.

A small sign outside the De L'Orient à L'Occidental (From East to West) store stipulated that women were only welcome on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday and Fridays. Men, on the other hand, were kindly asked to take their custom elsewhere on weekends.

The gender split was put in place by the store's owners, recent converts to Islam, to make sure women and men do not meet.

Jean-Baptiste Michelon, the store's co-owner, said: “It’s really for practising Muslims. A man doesn’t want to find himself alone with a woman. A woman who comes to buy books here doesn’t want to find herself alone with a man, especially out of respect if she is married."

“I don’t think her husband would accept such things,” he told BFM TV, adding that the rule did not apply to non-Muslims. Read on and comment » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Monday, June 22, 2015

Family Blames Saudi Gender Segregation Rules for Student's Death

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Female student died after university stopped male paramedics from treating her

The family of a Saudi woman student who died of heart problems has said her university prevented medics from getting to her in time because of rules barring men from the women-only part of the campus.

The King Saud University in Riyadh denied the accusation and said Amena Bawazir, who had a history of heart disease, received quick medical attention after suffering a stroke last Sunday, causing her heart and lungs to stop functioning.

The case has revived memories of a 2002 incident in which 15 schoolgirls in Jeddah died in a fire after the Saudi morality police sent them back into the building because they were not veiled.

Al-Arabiya television's news website quoted Amena's sister, Fahda Bawazir, as saying that medics arrived at a campus gate shortly after her sister fell ill at around 11 a.m.

"But the medics were not allowed to enter the campus until 1 p.m.," she said, in a report published late on Thursday. » | Friday, February 07, 2014