The bill to expand gender separation in academia was approved at the start of the week by the Knesset Education Committee for second and third readings. The legislation still requires final approval by the Knesset plenary, and it remains unclear when it will be brought to a vote.
The bill expands gender-separated academic programs to include graduate degrees. Higher education institutions would be permitted to offer separate study tracks for men and women in both master’s and doctoral programs, compared with the current situation, in which separate tracks exist only at colleges and only for undergraduate studies.
“The outgoing government knows that these are its final moments and is trying, through shameful power grabs, to complete its attempts at a radical conservative transformation,” MK Naama Lazimi (The Democrats), a member of the Education Committee, told Davar.
“This is a dangerous law that harms women and all of us, and contradicts professional ethics. What we will get are professionals who have not received proper education and training. For this government, excluding women is more important than the professionalism of nurses and healthcare workers in hospitals, or psychologists who treat our children.”
“This will not happen,” Lazimi says. “You want to remove us from classrooms, prevent us from advancing in academia, and erase us from the public sphere, but soon you will see us in leading positions in the next government. When we hold the Education portfolio, we will ensure a free academia where integration is not based on exclusion. We will promote first-generation higher education students within academia and uphold genuine pluralism, without coercion or separation.”
Adi Azuz from the party Yesh Atid also strongly criticized the law. “The government continues to lead Israel toward dark places, while deliberately harming women’s rights,” she told Davar. “This law is a stain on the law books of the State of Israel, and its place is in the trash bin of history.”
“The Israeli government has decided to transform Israel from a liberal democracy into a dark religious state,” said Na’amat chair Hagit Pe’er in response to the decision. “Today it is the IDF and academia; tomorrow it will be kindergartens and schools, and the day after tomorrow the entire public sphere: public parks, national parks, supermarkets, banks, health clinics, and hospitals.
“I believe in the Israeli public, which will not allow this disgrace to be implemented. Women and men should vote with their feet and abandon institutions that implement the law, should it pass and become part of Israel’s legal code.”
Concerns Over Separation Extending to Cafeterias and Libraries
Ahead of the Education Committee discussion, several letters were issued calling on lawmakers to oppose advancing the bill. Women’s organizations and civil society groups, including Na’amat and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, wrote in a legal opinion:
“Granting legal recognition to the serious and dangerous phenomenon of the exclusion of women and gender separation, as proposed, would legitimize these discriminatory and exclusionary norms in additional spaces, such as the labor market and the public sphere as a whole. The proposal fundamentally contradicts the principles of equality and human dignity, conflicts with Basic Laws, and does not meet constitutional standards.”
AFIK – the Forum of Women Professors in Israel – wrote: “The bill threatens the international standing of Israeli academia, harms research and teaching excellence, and institutionalizes gender discrimination within Israel’s higher education system.”
The Association of University Heads requested that an additional discussion be held, following the addition of new clauses to the bill during the legislative process.
According to the association, “There are far-reaching implications arising from the distinction between ‘study tracks’ and ‘separate institutions’ regarding separation beyond the classroom, as well as from the explicit inclusion of the term ‘undergraduate degree.’ These changes could broaden the meaning of the amendment in a way that breaks through the arrangements and balances established until now regarding the implementation of gender-separated education, including those set by rulings of the High Court of Justice.”
“Specifically, the entire legislative discussion has relied on the emphasis made by the bill’s sponsor, MK Limor Son Har-Melech, that this is an expansion of gender separation to graduate degrees only within classrooms, without changing the existing arrangements that prevent separation in public spaces such as libraries, cafeterias, or research laboratories.
“To the best of our knowledge, there has been no separate discussion of the broader implications for the higher education system as a whole, including the consequences of expanding separation within undergraduate programs in public spaces—either generally or specifically in relation to ‘separate institutions.’
“Furthermore, there has been no meaningful and separate discussion regarding the definition of the term ‘separate institution’ as it appears in the proposal. It remains unclear which institutions would fall under this definition, and the matter requires further clarification.”
The Coordinating Council of University Senior Academic Staff Organizations also opposes advancing the bill. In a position paper issued by the council, it highlighted not only concerns regarding harm to equality and the status of women in academia, but also potential damage to the quality of teaching and research, the standing of academic staff, and the employment conditions and research practices of faculty members.
Prof. Yofi Tirosh from the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University, author of the book “We Were Separated Thus: A Guide to Gender Separation”, said:“This is a law that will create academic ghettos for Haredi women, and it will not help them integrate as it is presented. Knesset members such as Limor Son Har-Melech, the bill’s sponsor, have an interest in perpetuating their separation and leaving them behind.
“The Israeli government is deliberately working to remove women from the public sphere. After expanding the authority of rabbinical courts, the Knesset is moving forward with legislation against women, including the proposed Basic Law: Torah Study and the bill that would expand gender separation in graduate academic programs.
“This is what the beginning of the decline of our democratic and liberal state looks like.”
WIZO chair Anita Friedman said:“The Education Committee’s decision is a dangerous step that legitimizes a norm that should never have existed in the first place. What was previously presented as a limited arrangement intended to facilitate the integration of the Haredi community is now becoming a policy of institutionalized separation, which will be very difficult to stop.
“Academia is a space for excellence, equality, and interaction between different communities—not for separation. This move will create a dangerous precedent that will spill over into additional spaces.
“Gender separation does not advance women. It distances them from positions of influence and undermines the principle of equality. Members of Knesset must stop the bill in the plenary. The responsibility for preventing gender separation from becoming the norm now rests with them.”