Israeli Task Force Could Enforce Gender Equality
The outcry over the disappearance of women from the public eye has reached the Knesset, where the Committee on the Status of Women will discuss the issue Tuesday morning and set up a task force to consider imposing sanctions against businesses that discriminate against women.
Maj. Gen. Orna Barbivai, who heads the Israel Defense Forces personnel directorate, will be speaking to the committee about the policy on women singing in military ceremonies, following several instances in which religious male soldiers refused to attend an event in which women were singing. Some have also refused to accept commands from female officers.
In another recent instance of tensions over women in the military, female soldiers were asked to move away from the main area at which a Simchat Torah post-holiday event was being held.
Other experts scheduled to appear before the committee include the CEO of the Egged bus company, who will discuss the sex-segregated bus lines in which women are expected to sit in the back.
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