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I've been so depressed lately by the news (Afghanistan, health care reform denying women reproductive rights, New York State Senate defeating gay marriage, etc., etc.) that it is almost hard to get my blood boiling these days. An email I received from the New Israel Fund changed that. When I learned that some public buses in Jerusalem force women to enter through the back door, sit in the back, and "dress modestly" in order to board I immediately wanted to go there, get on a bus in my sluttiest outfit (which is actually pretty modest to everyone but religious fanatics), and protest. Of course, I'd then be subjected to verbal and physical abuse by evil men who like to think that they are God, when really they are just oppressors who misinterpret their religious texts to benefit themselves.
Here's the situation: The ultra-Orthodox (aka haredi) community in Jerusalem asked Egged, Israel’s public bus company, to provide segregated buses in their neighborhoods over a decade ago. Today, this has grown to more than 55 lines operating around the country. The second best part of this is that some buses "operate in or through mixed neighborhoods and are the only buses running on particular routes."
If you are unfortunate enough to be a woman who wants to ride a public bus, you are "required to enter through the bus back doors and sit in the back of the bus, as well as 'dress modestly,'" according to the New Israel Fund, a nonprofit group in the US that fights for social justice and equality in Israel. Part of the reason that women are sent to the back is because men fear touching them, which they erroneously believe is forbidden by religious law. Harridans who refuse to know their place and stay at the back of the bus where we lesser creatures belong are often threatened verbally and physically by vigilante zealots - always men - "who 'enforce' the segregation system."
My very favorite part of all of this is that the segregated buses cost less to use than the regular ones.
Rebecca Honig Friedman wrote about the segregated bus situation Jewess almost three years ago when petitioners first took Egged on. Unlike me, Honig Friedman doesn't entirely want them abolished - she defends the religious rights of the Ultra-Orthodox - but she also is not entirely in favor of the system, either. She noted:
The unreasonable bit of the story is one woman’s tale of being slapped by an ultra-Orthodox man after she refused to move to the back of the bus. He was so afraid he might actually make contact with her by accident, but deliberately slapping her (which does indeed require touching) is ok. Ah, religious hypocrisy.
She has followed the story for the past few years, posting a link to a recent interview with author and activist Naomi Ragen at Religion and State in Israel (which originally appeared along with an article about the legality of such buses in The Jersualem Post. Ms. Ragen also published a thoughtful op-ed at Ideals, parsing the religious texts, the lack of religious law that would mandate such separation in the public sphere, and explaining the motivations behind why men and women might support such a radical departure from religious law. She points out that there are many ultra-Orthodox men who don't like the rules either, as it prevents them from sitting next to their wives and daughters.
Sarah Berger at In the Moment reports the court system ruled that segregated buses could be OK if "voluntary," but that the men who punch, kick, slap, and verbally harass women who don't voluntary disappear essentially make this a moot point. As Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz debates whether or not to uphold his own commission's recommendation to ban the buses, Berger says that women’s and human rights groups worry that he will bend to the religious parties who make up the current government coalition. She concludes, "it is unfortunate that women will once again become victims of a religious and political power play."
Oh, isn't that the case everywhere, though? (See "Stupak is as Stupak Does" for one timely American example....) Still, anyone as infuriated as I am can do something more useful than flying to Israel and risking her safety to protest this outrage. Katz will render his decision by Dec. 27 (my birthday!). Help me
