In terms of gender equality, nobody seems to worry about Israel. With Golda Meir as the former prime minister, Tzipi Livni the current opposition leader and its thousands of women soldiers, equality between the sexes seems to have been achieved. However, this week's Women Economic Conference in Tel Aviv reveals another picture. Speaking to the audience, Rabbanit Adina Bar Shalom, the daughter of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, heavily criticized the exclusion of women from the public domain in the ultra-Orthodox sector, which she says “violates Thora.” Bar Shalom referred to the kosher bus lines as the main problem and the exclusion of women from the public domain in the country. According to Bar Shalom, this is not the way things should be, as “Halacha treats women with the utmost respect” and that Jewish law is in favor of gender equality. This is not the first time that the situation of women in ultra-orthodox circles has been criticized. In Jerusalem, where ultra-Orthodox Jews are growing in numbers, there are kosher bus lines and also health clinics are becoming more and more gender segregated. The military has considered reassigning some female combat soldiers because religious men don't want to serve with them. Some supermarkets in ultra-Orthodox communities, have now assigned separate hours for men and women and a number of health clinics have separate entrances and waiting rooms for men and women. During a religious ceremony in October, barriers were erected in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood aiming to keep women and men from walking on the same sidewalk. According to Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish gender segregation “began with buses, continued with supermarkets and reached the streets. It's not going away, just the opposite.” Livni, current Israeli opposition leader, who was also attending the conference, criticized the current developments: “The processes taking place these days are unacceptable. It took years and many struggles to allow women to serve in combat units, and today there is an attempt to exclude them – and that's serious. “We must fight these processes together. This isn't just a matter for women, this isn't a battle for women's rights, but a battle between the rule of law and the radicalization being imposed on society,” she added, arguing that most Israeli women do not approve of such conditions and segregation. This is a battle for values people are trying to replace with extreme rabbis' rulings. What we are seeing here is a collision putting the entire society in danger,” Livni added. BM
