Academics and Haredi Activists Petition Israeli Supreme Court Against Gender Segregation Expansion in Higher Education

Ten academic faculty members, led by Professor Yofi Tirosh from Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Law, alongside six Haredi women activists and academics, filed a petition to Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday opposing a new law expanding gender segregation in higher education. The petition, submitted through attorney Hagai Kalai, argues that the law will not remove barriers faced by the Haredi community but will instead restrict the freedom of choice for Haredi men and women, deepen gender segregation, harm the quality of higher education, increase harm to female students and faculty, and reduce the integration chances of Haredim in academia, the workforce, and Israeli society.

The law, initiated by Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech of Otzma Yehudit, was passed early Thursday morning during the coalition's legislative push for religious coercion laws. It allows higher education institutions, with approval from the Council for Higher Education (CHE), to offer gender-segregated study tracks at the master's and doctoral levels and permits separate institutions, circumventing a Supreme Court ruling that only classroom segregation is allowed while public campus spaces remain mixed.

This petition follows a previous one by Tirosh and other faculty members challenging gender segregation in academia, which the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 could only be allowed as a limited exception for undergraduate classes, prohibiting exclusion of female lecturers and requiring equality between male and female tracks. The petitioners contend the new law expands segregation to graduate studies, permits segregation for anyone who desires it (not just Haredim), and extends segregation to campus spaces beyond classrooms.

Tirosh stated the law is unconstitutional as it permits disproportionate rights violations. She noted that even now, segregation extends beyond classrooms into libraries, hallways, and administrative areas, with no enforcement by the CHE. She criticized the law as a disguised effort to impose modesty rules that exclude women from more Israeli public spaces.

Haredi women joining the petition explained their opposition: Dr. Esti Rider of Tel Aviv University warned that segregation barriers tend to expand and limit women's opportunities. Malka Rotner, co-CEO of the Haredi Institute for Democracy, said the law personally harms her and many Haredi women by reducing opportunities, expanding segregation norms, and distancing them from influence, research, and societal integration.