As ultra-Orthodox flex muscle, Israel feminists see a backsliding

When public buses rumble to a stop in some of Jerusalem's religious neighborhoods, women often dutifully enter by the rear door and sit in the back, leaving the front for men.

There's no law requiring the women to do so, but those who don't risk verbal taunts and intimidation.
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Yet Israeli women say that recently some of their most basic rights have come under attack, including singing and dancing in public, vying for student government positions at a religious college, appearing on billboards in Jerusalem, speaking on a religious radio station and even using the sidewalk during religious celebrations.
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A study last year by the advocacy group Israel Religious Action Center, which is leading the campaign to allow women to pray as men do at the Western Wall, found that attempts to segregate men and women had expanded from private buildings and religious sites to public spaces, including a post office, pizza parlor, grocery store and fairgrounds.

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"Women walk down the street as though they are at the beach," said Rabbi Shmuel Pappenheim, a spokesman and leader for an umbrella group of ultra-Orthodox factions. "If in the past this was typical only of Tel Aviv, today it has reached Jerusalem as well. They encroach on our way of life, prompting our people to impose new restrictions, deepen separation and erect higher barriers to keep it away."

And if have time read Uri Avenary's column about what is happening in Israel!


Edited by Sign*Reader - 20 November 2011 at 8:10pm