Hebrew University student union approves gender segregation

The student union at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has decided to allow the segregation of men and women at events it organises. At such events, partitions would be erected in some areas, with another area left for mixed-gender participation. The union says that this will enable religious students who want segregation to participate, without offending their religious beliefs, writes Or Kashti for Haaretz.

According to the university’s rector, Professor Barak Medina, university authorities will need to approve such segregation on campus. “Our overall policy remains unchanged,” he said. “University events remain unsegregated, by gender or community. Segregation gives a hurtful message of exclusion, which is discriminatory.”

Sources at the student union say it will be hard to oppose segregation after it was officially recognised. A few years ago, a tumultuous session at the student union of the university’s law faculty ended with a decision not to allocate a separate area for female students. Under a banner of “integrating religious populations” and “fostering egalitarian spaces to the extent possible”, a conference held by student unions last week approved by a large majority a proposal to operate separate areas for men and women, in addition to a common area.
Full report on the Haaretz site