{"id":544323,"date":"2026-07-16T12:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/544323\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T12:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:29:12","slug":"high-court-petition-challenges-limor-son-har-melechs-gender-segregation-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/544323\/","title":{"rendered":"High Court petition challenges Limor Son Har-Melech’s gender segregation law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six haredi women and 10 academics petitioned the High Court of Justice on Thursday to strike down, or sharply restrict, a law expanding gender-segregated studies<\/a> in Israeli higher education, arguing that the legislation dismantles the safeguards on which the court previously found the practice constitutional.<\/p>\n

The petition was filed hours after the Knesset approved an amendment to the law sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, which expressly allows the Council for Higher Education to approve separate programs for men and women in bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s, and doctoral studies.<\/p>\n

At institutions that otherwise teach men and women together, the law limits gender separation<\/a> to classrooms; that restriction does not apply to institutions that are themselves designated for only men or only women. The amendment also states that operating separate institutions or study programs for men and women for religious reasons will not, in itself, be considered discrimination.<\/p>\n

The petitioners asked the court to strike down the amendment in whole or in part. Alternatively, they asked it to rule that the law does not override the restrictions set by the High Court in its 2021 decision, which permitted gender-segregated academic programs only as a narrow exception for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) students, at the bachelor\u2019s level and inside classrooms, while prohibiting the exclusion of women lecturers.<\/p>\n

All five justices on the expanded panel agreed that gender segregation in higher education infringed the constitutional right to equality. A 3-2 majority nevertheless upheld the CHE\u2019s framework, finding it proportionate only because it was restricted to haredi students, bachelor\u2019s degrees serving as the \u201centry gate\u201d to higher education, and separation inside classrooms rather than in public areas of the campus.<\/p>\n

\"MKMK Limor Son Har-Melech reacts during a National Security committee meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament on March 5, 2024; illustrative. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

The court also ruled unanimously that women lecturers could not be barred from teaching men\u2019s classes and stressed that deviation from the arrangement\u2019s \u201cdelicate balances\u201d could bring segregated programs into the realm of illegality.<\/p>\n

Knesset failed to address violations on gender segregation restrictions<\/p>\n

The current petition, led by Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law Prof. Yofi Tirosh, argues that the Knesset has now expanded the model without addressing longstanding violations of the restrictions that made it permissible in the first place.<\/p>\n

It accuses the CHE of failing to prevent segregation from spreading into libraries, corridors, administrative services, and other public spaces; allowing institutions to offer different programs to men and women; and failing to enforce the court\u2019s prohibition on excluding women lecturers from men\u2019s programs.<\/p>\n

The petition\u2019s central constitutional argument is that the amendment expressly authorizes an infringement of equality without requiring institutions to ensure substantive equality between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s programs.<\/p>\n

A provision intended to protect equality between the programs appeared in an earlier version of the legislation but was removed during the committee process, the petition said. The result, according to the petitioners, is legislation purportedly intended to enable \u201cseparate but equal\u201d programs that instead opens the door to \u201cseparate and unequal\u201d education.<\/p>\n

They warned that different levels of demand could lead institutions to offer certain degrees or specializations to only one sex, while women could be directed toward lower-paid, traditionally female professions. Segregated programs could also produce separate professional networks and limit women\u2019s access to senior academics, laboratories, research opportunities, and future employment, they argued.<\/p>\n

Those concerns are particularly acute in advanced degrees, the petition said, because master\u2019s and doctoral studies depend on close work between students and researchers rather than only classroom instruction.<\/p>\n

Several of the haredi petitioners argued that presenting segregation<\/a> as voluntary ignored the social pressure that could develop once separate programs became widely available.<\/p>\n

\u201cA partition never remains merely an option,\u201d Dr. Estee Rieder, a haredi woman and researcher of haredi society, said in the petition.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce established, it becomes a norm behind which women are expected to stand. What is presented as \u2018freedom of choice\u2019 becomes, in practice, social pressure and the absence of any real ability to choose otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feini Suknik, a haredi educator and social activist, said cultural accommodations such as kosher food, consideration for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and other forms of sensitivity did not require creating a parallel academic system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe haredi public does not need a parallel and inferior academy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt needs real entry into academia itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gender segregation law reverses 2021 limitations, critic says<\/p>\n

The petition also challenges the law\u2019s application beyond the haredi community. While the 2021 judgment justified limited segregation partly because of the educational and cultural barriers facing haredi students, the new law refers more broadly to separate programs operated \u201cfor religious reasons\u201d and does not expressly restrict participation to haredim.<\/p>\n

The petitioners argue that the change could create two parallel academic systems: one mixed and another governed by gender-separation<\/a> requirements for anyone seeking them.<\/p>\n

Son Har-Melech defended the legislation following its passage, saying it \u201cdoes not impose anything on anyone\u201d and instead \u201cexpands freedom, enables diversity, and respects the human mosaic of Israeli society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tirosh argued that the legislation did the opposite of each of the limitations established in 2021: It failed to address the exclusion of women lecturers, expanded segregation to advanced degrees, opened the possibility of separation beyond classrooms, and removed the express limitation to haredi students.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither the law is unconstitutional because it permits a disproportionate infringement of rights,\u201d she said, \u201cor it has no legal significance and the criteria limiting the permissible form of gender segregation in academic studies, which were established in the 2021 ruling, remain in force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keshet Neev contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six haredi women and 10 academics petitioned the High Court of Justice on Thursday to strike down, or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26360,104375,12184,42,835,15992,126235,43,104376,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-544323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-gender","tag-gender-equality-in-israel","tag-haredi","tag-headlines","tag-high-court-of-justice","tag-higher-education","tag-limor-son-har-melech","tag-news","tag-segregation","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}