Last week, reports emerged that men and women in Bnei Brak would be directed to use separate sidewalks in certain areas of the city. Signs were placed and then reportedly removed following public and legal opposition.

It would be easy to dismiss the episode as another short-lived Israeli controversy: a localized rabbinic instruction, a municipality claiming that it had merely assisted with logistics, a burst of public outrage, and signs that disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared.

But a sidewalk is never just a sidewalk.

On paper, the arrangement may appear symmetrical: one sidewalk for men and another for women. But giving each group a sidewalk does not make the arrangement equal.

When men and women are directed to different sides of a public street, a man walking down the street remains an individual going somewhere. A woman walking down the same street becomes a social and religious concern that must be managed. Her presence, which should be unremarkable, is transformed into a moral event.

Men are rarely taught that their bodies are inherently disruptive to public order or that the solution to another person’s religious struggle is for them to become less visible. They do not generally grow up learning that their voices, photographs, clothing, or physical proximity may constitute an imposition on those around them. Women, however, are asked to absorb that burden. Gender segregation turns one group’s discomfort into another group’s restriction. Rather than requiring men to navigate the ordinary presence of women with self-control, dignity, and respect, it reorganizes the environment so that women become responsible for male thoughts, feelings, and religious observance. They are asked to........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)