The Knesset's Gender Segregation Bill Crosses a Dangerous Red Line -- Haaretz Editorial

[Sid Shniad]

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Haaretz Editorial                                                                                                                                                                      July 06 2026

The Knesset's Gender Segregation Bill Crosses a Dangerous Red Line


Far-right Religious Zionism MK Zvi Succot (left), who chairs the Knesset 

Education Committee and the Knesset Subcommittee on West Bank Affairs, 

chairs a discussion on gender segregation in higher education, Monday. 

Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

The Knesset Education Committee approved legislation on Monday on a bill that would permit gender-segregated study tracks for master's and doctoral programs.

The bill is now ready for the final two votes in the Knesset, after which it would become law. Contrary to the feigned innocent declarations, the bill isn't a "cultural adaptation," but rather a strategic threat to the quality of higher education and Israel's liberal-democratic character. This would shatter the delicate balance that the High Court of Justice set in its ruling about five years ago, and lead to normalizing the exclusion of women.

Five years ago, the High Court approved gender-segregated studies for members of the ultra-Orthodox community subject to conditions: separate studies would only be for bachelor's degrees, segregation would be limited to the classroom and discrimination against female lecturers who had not been permitted to teach in tracks for men would end.

The five justices on the panel were clear: gender segregation violates the right to equality and human dignity of female university students and lecturers.

The proposed legislation, sponsored by Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech, violates each of the provisions: It increases discrimination against female lecturers, opens the door to segregated study for anyone who wants and expands the "sterile" women-free zone to include all study areas, including libraries, cafeterias and research labs.

Gender-segregated crowd at a concert in Israel, 2019. Credit: Gil Eliyahu

Emptying a campus of half of the population creates a unidimensional study environment whose graduates would refuse to integrate into Israel's labor market, which requires the provision of professional services to everyone.

International comparisons demonstrate that in most developed countries, there is no gender segregation in academia, certainly not for advanced degrees. Furthermore, the experience that has been gained from bachelor's degree programs shows "separate isn't equal." The separate study tracks have different admission criteria and curriculum relative to what's customary in mixed-gender settings. They produce an inferior academic product.

The primary harm is to women: Female researchers and lecturers would not be permitted to teach in tracks for men. The expansion of the segregation would thereby create an employment hierarchy that gives preference to men as the default. This is a major violation of the constitutional right to equality.

The harm to female ultra-Orthodox university students would also increase. They are already directed to less-profitable career choices than their male colleagues. The bill raises "major concern over the creation of differences at the academic level between the mixed tracks and the segregated tracks, particularly with regard to those in which only women study," the Association of University Heads warned on Sunday.

Gender segregation is a litmus test regarding the state of democracy. Its advocates don't know compromise. It doesn't remain within the classroom but rather reshapes the entire public sphere. In the face of a government that is seeking to turn higher education into a tool for ignorance and exclusion, the liberal camp needs to draw red lines: Academia that isn't free, equal and diverse would cease to be academia.

The above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.