From Nation's Capital to Nation's Capital: The Azza Street Spy

Will the Israeli Rosa Parks Please Stand Up, Or Rather Sit in the Front of the Bus?
For some reason, gender discrimination under certain circumstances is legal in this country. Namely, there are certain bus lines in which women are expected/forced to sit in the back of the bus. While most Americans are appropriately embarrassed by our Jim Crow past, why are Israelis actively pursuing and expanding this form of discrimination?

In order to prevent mixed dancing and other social ills, "Mehadrin" bus lines have emerged that require women to sit in the back. These lines used to only belong to private bus companies and generally serve exclusively ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and communities. While I find all forms of discrimination abhorrent, I am comforted when it is at least not publicly-financed discrimination. The local Egged bus lines and new Jerusalem-Tsfat Mehadrin lines should be shot down by the Supreme Court as a misuse of public funds.

(See my post-Pesach 2007 entry when males were unwilling to sit next to me on the Swiss Air and Lufthansa flights. Find your own seating buddy and leave me alone!)

While many complain that the modern Orthodox community is moving to the right, the ultra-Orthodox is running to the right. The private bus company that serves the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit due South of Jerusalem instituted that women are now expected to board the bus at the rear door as well. Is there any limit to this madness? Let us ponder the many layers of its foolishness.

1) If men and women are really to sit separately, the women should get the front half of the bus, not the back. Given the high fertility rate, most women are pregnant or nursing and prone to nausea. Looking out the front windshield and sitting closer to the engine often makes for a more comfortable ride. However, when engaging in discrimination, it is the preferred group that gets to sit up front. Hence, the women are relegated to the back.

2) There has never been any reported violence on the Beitar buses for violation of the separate seating, enforced via social norms (?). Two stories involving violence that received major media attention involved a woman sitting up front on an early morning, local Jerusalem bus and a mixed-gender couple sitting together on the Beit Shemesh bus. Violence is never acceptable. I'm assuming these standards are social norms and enforced through social pressure, perhaps violence, too. I don't believe any passenger can be issued a ticket for sitting in the wrong seat.

3) I'm assuming that the Beitar folks are a more mellow bunch given their history of non-violence and known episodes of non-comforming. I have personally observed married couples sitting together in the middle section of the bus and disenfranchised male youth (at least by appearance) sitting in the back of the bus (i.e., in the "women's section). While I don't like rowdy or disruptive passengers, I have no personal objection to males sitting in the back row of the bus. If these episodes can pass peacefully, then why can't I choose my own seat? I promise to not mixed dance with any of the smelly, overdressed male passengers on the bus.

4) Because Beitar is a settlement, the buses have bulletproof windows, which means the glass is not transparent and it is not all that easy to see the scenery. If a woman visitor is traveling to Beitar, sitting in the back of the bus is a real liability. On normal bus lines, one can sit near the driver and ask for help in getting off at the right bus stop, sit up front and look out the front windshield, etc. A woman who is unfamiliar with the route, cannot see landmarks or read street and road signs clearly from the translucent side windows. How unwelcoming. Perhaps the community of Beitar does not want female visitors...

5) Boarding in the back of the bus is an absolute violation of a passenger's dignity. Why is this an improvement? However, assuming that I'm sitting in the back, it is to my advantage to board with the other women in order to increase my chances of getting a seat. If I insist on boarding at the front and the bus is crowded, there may be no seats left.

The first time I rode the bus with the separate boarding, I boarded in the back with my sister so that we could get better seats. I then marched up to the front of the bus so that I could buy a 5-ride bus ticket and returned to my seat. The new, rear-door boarding system had me walking through the "men's section" twice instead of once.

The driver sold me the ticket and punched a single ride for me. After reaching my seat, I self-punched a second ride for my sister using the puncher chained to the handrail by the rear door. Truthfully, I entertained the idea of not punching the second ride, those sleazy jerks. But, their sleaziness and jerkiness aside, not paying for a bus ride is theft.

When we reached the last bus stop inside the city, a modern Orthodox-looking man boarded the bus in the rear. How unusual, I thought. Might he be my savior, acting as a reverse Rosa Parks? Alas, no. He was the inspector checking to see that no woman acted on the impulse of not paying for the ride. (He inspected the bus tickets of women passengers, only.)

My return trip back to Jerusalem had a few additional quirks. The bus approached its stop, should have been Jerusalem-bound, but it's display was broken. My sister and I were the only passengers at the stop and the driver opened the rear doors only. I walked toward the front of the bus, to speak with the driver. A local resident walking by proclaimed to me, "You are supposed to board in the rear." I ignored her.

Me: Are you going to Jerusalem?

Bus Driver: Yes.

Why would I ever board a bus without verifying its destination first? Since I was already standing next to an open bus door, albeit front door, I boarded right there. Egads! Bizarrely, as the bus continued to pick up passengers, women would board in the back and ask sitting passengers my same question: Is this really the bus I want? Why aren't these women empowered enough to insist on boarding in the front and asking *the driver* their question?

A man-woman pair boarded the bus at their respective doors, met in the middle and sat together. They can sit together, but must board separately?? And then there are the disenfranchised youth. A group of four teenagers boarded at the rear, two males and two females. They sat in the back together. The male then went all the way to the front to pay for his ride, and came all the way back.

None of this makes sense! By honoring the mandate of boarding separately, women are asking other passengers that I would only ask a bus driver. Couples are boarding separately to sit together, and males and females end up walking through the "other" section additional times in order to pay and sit. All four rides on the bus involved an inspector checking only the women's tickets. The loopholes and policy of enforcement only highlight its absurdity.

Will the Israeli Rosa Parks please stand up? Or, Will the Israeli Rosa Parks please sit in the front of the bus?

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