Knesset education panel votes to advance bill expanding gender segregation in academia; final readings likely later today

By Ariela Karmel

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6 July 2026, 2:21 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee chair Zvi Sukkot leads a vote on a bill to expand gender segregation in academia, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 6, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset Education Committee votes to advance a bill to expand gender segregation in academia to the Knesset plenum for its final two readings.

The bill, which is expected to be voted on in the plenum later today, would allow universities and colleges to offer gender-segregated master’s and doctoral degree programs subject to approval by the Council for Higher Education.

The legislation builds on a 2021 High Court ruling that upheld the Council for Higher Education’s policy permitting limited and specific gender-segregated undergraduate programs aimed at integrating ultra-Orthodox students into higher education and, ultimately, the workforce.

The court stressed at the time that the arrangement was specifically intended for the Haredi community and imposed safeguards, including limiting segregation to classrooms in mixed institutions and prohibiting discrimination against female lecturers.

The new legislation would extend that framework to master’s and doctoral programs and be open to all students, not only the Haredi community, while a proposed amendment by Shas MK Yossi Taieb to expand segregation to additional areas of campuses was rejected.

Proponents frame the bill as increasing educational opportunities for religious women, with bill sponsor MK Limor Son Har-Melech arguing the legislation will “advance women from sectors that have not received the opportunities they deserve,” while committee chair and Religious Zionism Zvi Sukkot says it would “expand freedom of choice.”

Opposition lawmakers and academic representatives have roundly denounced the bill, arguing that it unnecessarily expands gender segregation beyond existing arrangements, prioritizes religious rights over the rights of female students and lecturers to equality, dignity and freedom of movement, and harms academic freedom and the quality of teaching and research.

Education Committee member and Democrats MK Naama Lazimi condemns the “terrible bill,” saying lawmakers who oppose women serving in the Knesset or whose parties bar female candidates, including several of the committee members, “have no right to strip us of our freedoms and rights.”