Segregation of the sexes on public buses declared illegal and documentary on ultra-Orthodox society wins prize

Amidst controversy over increasingly stringent, even abusive, Haredi enforcement of segregation of the sexes in public spaces, including buses, a sensitive documentary wins Haifa Film Festival award.

The festival jury decided to present Black Bus (Anat Zuria, director; Israel 2009) with the award for “the filmmaker’s total commitment to bring to the screen a paralyzed and disturbing world in a fascinating cinematic work.” Director Anat Zuria’s previous films Tehorah (2002) and Mekudeshet (2004), also dealt with women in the ultra-Orthodox world.

Synopsis of the film:

Sara and Shlomit are two young Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) women who are shunned by their own society. Black Bus tells the story of their singular and courageous attempt to document the society from which they have fled. Sarah writes a witty blog about the bleak lives of Haredi women. Shlomit is an independent photographer who, among other things, documents experiences on the segregated busses, where women are required to sit at the back. These young women act entirely alone and pay the full price for violating the number-one rule of Haredi society: Never air dirty laundry in public. Persecuted and vilified, they expose the violence of Haredi fanatics acting in the name of modesty, and are severely punished for doing so.

Segregation of the sexes on public buses was recently declared illegal

A committee established by the Ministry of Transport recently declared segregated buses illegal, Haaretz reported. “So-called mehadrin bus lines, on which men and women are segregated to satisfy Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sensibilities, should be abolished, a committee appointed by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz has concluded.”

“The Dan and Egged bus cooperatives currently run some 90 mehadrin lines to Haredi towns and neighborhoods. On these buses, men sit in front and women in back, and women enter by a special door in the rear.” The committee found that the arrangement was discriminatory and coercive, and therefore unacceptable.

 
For the entire article

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1124165.html

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