JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Knesset’s Education, Culture and Sports Committee has approved for its second and third readings a bill that would allow Israeli institutions of higher education to offer gender-separate graduate degree programs. Under the proposal, separation would be permitted only inside classrooms at mixed-campus institutions, and only for students who choose to study in such programs.

The bill’s sponsor, MK Limor Son Har-Melech, said the legislation would “assist women from sectors that have not received appropriate opportunities for advancement.”

Opposition lawmakers and academic representatives strongly objected, arguing that the proposal would undermine gender equality in higher education, harm women’s status in academia, and negatively affect teaching and research. During the committee debate, opposition female MKs protested by holding signs reading “Men” and “Women” and sarcastically declaring, “If there is going to be separation, let it be everywhere, even in Knesset committees.”

Committee legal adviser Adv. Tami Sela said the bill serves a legitimate purpose that could justify a limited infringement on equality, provided appropriate safeguards remain in place. She emphasized that the legislation does not require universities to establish separate programs but leaves each case subject to approval by the Council for Higher Education (CHE), which would examine necessity, proportionality, and supporting evidence. She also stressed that the bill does not alter existing legal protections against discrimination involving female faculty members.

Sela questioned the bill’s original reference to doctoral studies, arguing that the broader term “advanced degrees” was less closely connected to the legislation’s stated objective of improving workforce integration.

Throughout the lengthy legislative process, organizations both supporting and opposing the bill presented their views. Yael Yechieli, CEO of the 50:50 Initiative, said that if the goal is integrating the charedi community into higher education, she supports it, but argued that the proposal instead grants additional autonomy to the charedi community without necessarily improving integration.

Naama Zarbib, CEO of the “Breaking Equality” movement, defended the proposal, saying, “We constantly hear imaginary fears about a slippery slope. These are paternalistic voices that refuse to see women who genuinely want these degree programs.”

Academic representatives maintained that gender-separated programs could damage academic quality, research standards, faculty status, employment practices, and academic freedom. Prof. Michal Frenkel, representing the Organization of Women Professors in Academia, argued that “gender-separate studies are academically inferior.” CHE representative Ronen Kutin rejected that claim, insisting that academic standards would remain unchanged.

The debate also referenced a 2021 Supreme Court of Israel ruling that upheld the CHE’s framework permitting gender-separated undergraduate programs as a means of increasing Haredi participation in higher education. An amendment proposed by MK Yosef Taieb, which explicitly anchors undergraduate gender-separate programs in law, was accepted and incorporated into the bill.

Taieb also sought to broaden the legislation by allowing gender separation throughout entire campuses designated as separate institutions, not just in classrooms. He argued that lawmakers should establish a new legal norm for such institutions. Representatives from the Justice Ministry opposed the broader interpretation, warning that it exceeded the careful balance between religious accommodation and equality established by the CHE and Supreme Court precedent.

The version approved by the committee permits separation only inside classrooms at mixed institutions. However, the wording leaves open the possibility of broader separation in institutions classified as separate campuses. Sela argued that broader segregation in public spaces had not been shown to be necessary to achieve the law’s objectives and could face significant legal challenges.

CHE representative Ronen Kutin noted that Israel currently has no fully separate higher education institutions, only separate campuses within mixed institutions, and pointedly asked whether lawmakers expected the CHE to begin regulating separation in libraries and cafeterias instead of focusing on academic excellence.

Charedi participant Oshra Danoch welcomed the legislation, calling it “real good news for the State of Israel,” and said efforts to force Haredi women to abandon their values would not succeed.

Roy Asaf, head of the Prime Minister’s Office Authority for the Economic and Social Development of the Haredi Community, supported the bill, saying it would increase Haredi women’s earning potential and expand their professional opportunities.

According to CHE data presented during the discussions, approximately 19,000 graduates of the charedi education system were enrolled in Israeli higher education during the 2024–25 academic year, with women comprising about two-thirds of that population. Kutin added that only 13% of charedi adults hold academic degrees, compared with 46% of the general population, citing economic, social, and cultural barriers and not only the issue of gender-separated education.

Following the committee’s approval, committee chairman MK Zvi Sukkot said the legislation is intended to expand access to higher education for religious communities that have traditionally avoided graduate studies because of their religious lifestyle. He rejected criticism that the bill imposes segregation, saying, “Contrary to the misleading campaign against it, this law forces separation on no one. It expands freedom of choice. Those who speak in the name of pluralism should also respect the religious and charedi public and allow them an equal opportunity to advance in academia without compromising their beliefs.”