I doubt that many outside of Israel are even aware of a public debate going on in the country these days. Titled “Segregation of Women”, this debate is all over the news all the time. I will try and portray the issue as objectively as I can (not that I have to, unfortunately I don’t get paid to write), and then, naturally, will voice my own opinion.
First and foremost, segregation of women is not uncommon in ultra-orthodox communities of any religion. In Parochial schools, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish alike, the separation between boys and girls is generations old. I myself went to an all-boys school from first to twelfth grade. And yet, throughout the course of my life I haven’t witnessed complete segregation of men and women with the exception of going to the Synagogue. In all other areas: the beach, the swimming pool, the movie theatres, the shopping malls, the streets and the public transportation – men and women would be sharing the venues without a problem. Some years back, the ultra-orthodox introduced a greater degree of separation. Men and women started to frequent the beaches in different days and hours, in special, designated beaches. The attitude of the government and the cities was to try and accommodate the special needs of the different communities. The swimming pools followed suit and soon enough the degree of separation grew. With that, as may have been expected, the dress code for women became stricter. Hair covers of all sorts, wigs, then scarves. From covering most of the hair to covering all of it, from colorful to all black, from covering everything above elbows and knees, to covering basically everything. (Don’t get me wrong, I am not all for women to wear extremely revealing clothes. I would not recommend it to my daughters, or to others’. But between extremely revealing to pitch black, cover all, the distance is great).
Believe it or not, there are streets in Jerusalem that are gender oriented. One side of the street is used by men, the other by women. There are public transportation bus lines and train cars that are separated by gender.
Recently, a woman boarded a bus going from one place to another. She was directed to the back of the bus. She refused, and soon enough the bus had to stop, police summoned, to resolve the issue. There was screaming, yelling, some say spitting. According to the news media, the policeman who showed up tried to persuade the woman to go sit in the back.
In the meantime, in the town of Beit Shemesh, men are screaming and spitting at girl students for not dressing modestly. Meaning modestly as defined by spitting men…
As for my opinion? Religious fundamentalism of all forms and kinds turn me off completely. And while I am tolerant to whatever practices people use in their own home, I am not at all tolerant to what they are imposing on others. By the way, the reason they do it in Israel, and why it will continue and escalate ad nausea, is simple: they can. Let’s see the brave ultra-orthodox trying to pull this stunt anywhere else on the planet. Not going to happen. Only in Israel.
And while this debate is taking place, far far away from where we live geographically and mentally, we have been celebrating the Holiday Season with friends from various affiliations, in different settings and different foods. Our children sang Christmas Carols on stage at the Canadian International School of Beijing, they lit Hanukkah candles with the Israeli community at Bite A Pita, and at home. They had plenty of latkes, doughnuts, and candy canes and chocolates. And let me tell you, in less than a month there will another big celebration in Beijing. The Chinese New Year. Year of the Dragon. We will celebrate that one as well. In short: the best of all worlds.
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