http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6584661.stm
Quote:
The other day I was waiting for a bus in downtown Jerusalem. I was in the bustling orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Mea Sharim and the bus stop was extremely crowded. When the Number 40 bus arrived, the most curious thing happened. Husbands left heavily pregnant wives or spouses struggling with prams and pushchairs to fend for themselves as they and all other male passengers got on at the front of the bus.
Women moved towards the rear door to get on at the back.
When on the bus, I tried to buck the system, moving my way towards the driver but was pushed back towards the other women.
These are what orthodox Jews call "modesty buses".
The separation system operates on 30 public bus routes across Israel. The authorities here say the arrangement is voluntary, but in practice, as I found out, there is not much choice involved.
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For the tl;dr crowd: gender segregation is being enforced on buses in Jerusalem. Women are made to go to the back while men sit at the front.
It's comparable to two very different examples, one from history and one from the present-day. What they both have in common is their influence on American society today.
The first is the Black civil rights movement in America in the 1950s and 60s. Rosa Parks was being deified in the American press only 18 months ago for her refusal to move to the back of the bus because she was black. Now the same situation is occuring again, this time on gender lines.
The second is the treatment of women by fundamentalist Islam. I don't need to go into details here do I? Suffice it to say that in the final paragraphs of that BBC News article you might think you're reading about Pakistan, not Israel.
I wonder whether or not the American media will pick up on this
