Sex-Segregated Busses In Israeli Haredi Neighborhoods Challenged

In Israel last week, Naomi Ragen, an Orthodox Jew and a feminist author, filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Transportation and the Egged Bus Cooperative that operates most public bus lines. The suit seeks an end to the 30 sex-segregated bus routes in which women are required to sit at the back of buses. The controversial bus routes were begun 10 years ago as a concession to ultra-Orthodox Jews who threatened to boycott buses otherwise. the lawsuit claims that Ragen and four other women were verbally harassed and in some cases physically beaten by Orthodox men on the buses when the women refused to comply with seating requirements. Middle East Online, reporting on this today, also says that in recent months, some Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men in religious neighborhoods at Jerusalem's northern edge have run "modesty patrols" that splattered bleach on women they consider dressed immodestly.