As Israel approaches a critical election period, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition has advanced legislation allowing universities to expand gender-segregated academic programs.
The move has drawn controversy, with critics arguing that it represents a growing role for religious politics in Israel’s higher education system.
The move largely aims to placate the Zionist state’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish population, also known as Haredi communities in the Israeli context, which have long championed gender-segregated education across Israel.
The timing of the legislation is closely linked to Israel’s political uncertainty. With parliament set to dissolve on Friday ahead of elections, Haredi parties sought to secure the expansion of gender-segregated education before a possible change in government that could reduce their political influence.
According to recent polls, opposition parties are ahead of the Netanyahu-led alliance.
Netanyahu’s fragile coalition, described as the most extreme-dominated government in Israeli history, has relied heavily on support from Haredi parties, including United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, as well as religious-nationalist parties such as Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit.
These groups have historically supported gender segregation, suggesting that women, especially those with religious convictions, limited opportunities within the current secular education system, could benefit from greater space to pursue their ideological beliefs.
Limor Son Har-Melech, a lawmaker from Otzma Yehudit, who made headlines after being pictured with her husband at an apparent home party, holding a rope and a mock hanging noose to show her advocacy for a unique discriminatory death penalty law targeting only Palestinians, not Jews, is among the advocates of gender-segregated classes.
Earlier this year, the Knesset also enacted the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law, which mandated hanging as the standard procedure for Palestinians convicted in military courts for alleged deadly attacks classified as terrorism.
She framed her advocacy for gender segregation in Israeli education on the claim that the law will “advance women from sectors that have not received the opportunities they deserve,” referring to Orthodox Jewish women.
Concerns over secular education
Opponents of the legislation, including opposition parties, university representatives and civil society groups, argue that gender-segregated academic programmes do not necessarily expand opportunities for women and could instead reinforce divisions within Israel’s higher education system.
The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), a Jewish civil rights organisation focused on gender equality and social justice in the United States and Israel, has criticised the legislation, warning that it could undermine principles of equality and create a precedent for greater religious influence over academic institutions.
