In preparation for next month's crucial debate in Israel's High Court of Justice,  dozens of social change organizations are planning a rally against gender segregation in public places.  Hundreds of demonstrators are expected to gather outside the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem on Saturday, March 13 as part of an NIF-supported campaign for religious pluralism and women's rights.

Ads for the NIF funded hotline on gender segregated buses, which ask women to report instances of abuse.

The majority of Israelis oppose imposed gender segregation, a cause advanced by the High Court's order to Transportation Minister Israel Katz, asking him  to explain why he has not accepted his own committee's ruling that gender-segregated bus lines are illegal.  The court also handed down a temporary injunction prohibiting the forced separation of men and women on public bus lines.  

Jerusalem Counsel Member Rachel Azaria, who is herself Orthodox and  is an outspoken opponent of gender segregation in public places, said, "There has been a clear change in Israeli public opinion over the past year.  At first secular Israelis would say this does not affect me and leave the ultra-Orthodox to live how they want.  But discourse has changed.  People now realize that there are gender-segregated buses in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ashdod as well as Jerusalem and B'nei Brak.  People now realize that these public buses contravene Israeli democratic values."

Much of this heightened awareness is due to NIF's campaign against gender segregation, which began in December.  It has included a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony by the Western Wall to protest gender segregation in the Kotel plaza, ads advertising NIF grantee Kolech: Religious Women's Forum's hotline on abuse caused by gender segregated buses, distribution of pamphlets about the hotline by Orthodox female students in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and a protest including a "modesty patrol" near the Knesset, where men and women were asked to walk on separate sidewalks to illustrate the trend towards gender segregation.

The issue was first confronted in 2007 when veteran NIF grantee Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) for Progressive Judaism in Israel (Reform) petitioned the High Court against gender segregated bus lines.  Azaria herself was assisted by IRAC when the Egged Bus Company refused to run ads for her municipal election campaign in 2008 because of a deal with the ultra-Orthodox prohibiting images of women in ads.  IRAC successfully petitioned the High Court forcing Egged to run her election ads.  She recalled, "It was this that brought to my attention Egged's gender-segregated buses."

Rachel Azaria (center) in one of the election ads that Jerusalem buses refused to display because it contained images of women

Meanwhile, Israel's ultra-Orthodox community is seeking to extend gender segregation in public places despite the court ruling.  The Rabbinical Council for Public Transportation is demanding that the Jerusalem Light Railway, which begins service next year, runs separate cars for men and women.  The Jerusalem municipal spokesman insists there will be no gender segregation on the railway.

Azaria said, "Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the greatest Orthodox US rabbi of the 20th, century ruled that there was no prohibition against men and women traveling on the New York subway even in the height of the rush hour when men and women inevitably touch.  There simply is no halachic basis for gender separated buses."

Azaria also notes that there are increasing numbers of "men only" and "women only" entrances for public buildings such as clinics. Protests have been lodged to the Clalit Health Fund, Israel's largest health-care provider, which has opened gendered segregated clinics in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Bnei Brak.