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🇮🇱 Israel /Elections & Politics

Knesset approves gender-segregated graduate degree programs in late-night vote

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Approved/passed
  • The Knesset approved an amendment to the Student Rights Law, allowing higher education institutions to offer gender-segregated graduate degree programs.
  • The legislation permits segregation only within classrooms and for students who voluntarily enroll in these programs.
  • Opposition lawmakers protested the vote, calling the law discriminatory and a step backward for women's rights.

In a late-night vote, the Israeli Knesset approved an amendment to the Student Rights Law, permitting higher education institutions to offer gender-segregated graduate degree programs. The legislation, passed by a vote of 52-43, allows for segregation specifically within classrooms and only for students who choose to enroll in these specialized programs.

The most misogynistic government in Israel's history is knowingly harming women's rights in an unprecedented manner.

— MK Adi EzuzOf the Together Party, protesting the Knesset's approval of gender-segregated graduate programs.

Sponsored by MK Limor Son-Har Melech, the amendment aims to clarify existing provisions that allowed for separate study programs for religious reasons, extending this to master's and doctoral degrees. Proponents argue it accommodates students whose religious beliefs prevent them from participating in mixed-gender academic settings, thereby enabling them to pursue advanced degrees in a wider range of fields.

The vote sparked significant opposition, with lawmakers from parties like Together and Yisrael Beytenu protesting vehemently. MK Adi Ezuz condemned the move as "knowingly harming women's rights in an unprecedented manner," labeling it the "most misogynistic government in Israel's history." Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman criticized the government, stating it was trying to "turn the State of Israel into a state of ayatollahs" and urged universities not to comply with the law.

The government of the October 7 massacre is trying to turn the State of Israel into a state of ayatollahs.

— MK Avigdor LibermanChairman of Yisrael Beytenu, criticizing the new legislation.

MK Merav Michaeli echoed the sentiment, asserting, "There is no such thing as separate but equal." She argued that the coalition consistently acts against equality and that the law reflects a belief that religious Jewish men are valued more than women and other men. The opposition's outcry highlighted deep divisions over the implications of the legislation for gender equality and religious freedom within the academic sphere.

There is no such thing as separate but equal.

— MK Merav MichaeliCommenting on the Knesset's vote to allow gender-segregated graduate degree programs.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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