Tel Aviv’s first sex- segregated concert

Summary taken from Haaretz.com on 12.01.11

The mayor of Tel Aviv is under fire after granting the request of singer Yaniv Ben Mashiach to have the first sex-segregated concert in Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium in 53 years.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai was asked this week to ban sex segregation at next month’s concert, and any other performances, in municipal venues.

The Auditorium is at the centre of the latest clashes between Haredi and secular customs. Yifat Zamir, who heads WePower, one of several women’s groups that asked Huldai this week to refuse to allow segregated performances said:

“I don’t think any of the city founders thought that someday someone would say, ‘Men sit here and women sit there.'”

The mayor has responded, commenting that Tel Aviv is a democratic and pluralist city which respects all people and therefore allows municipal buildings to be rented out for events such as these.

Ben Mashiach, who sings songs with Jewish themes, had previously asked the auditorium for separate seating at the concert, meaning that men would sit in the main section and women would sit in the upstairs balcony. His concerts are usually overseen by “modesty guards” who enforce the segregation.

Tamar Zandberg, a city council member who heads the municipality’s committee on women’s rights, also asked Huldai to ban such a “chauvinist and primitive practice.”

She said: “It’s a custom that has nothing to do with Jewish or religious life. It has sprung up suddenly in dark, fundamentalist circles and it has been growing ever wider.

“These methods of excluding women should not be accepted even in ultra-Orthodox society, most certainly not in municipal institutions in the heart of Tel Aviv.

“There’s no consent to speak of in a society that oppresses and humiliates women. These women lack a real free choice.”

Read more at Haaretz.com.