Oyyyyy! There is nothing worse than a professional woman writing about inequality for women ... the women who do this get labeled as being "feminists," which has sorta' become a dirty word for mainstream America. Let me be clear, for years, I have said I am NOT a feminist ... no, I am an "egalitarian" ... I don't want women to have more rights than men, I simply want the same rights. : )
Which means I was troubled when I read how Judaism is being used to segregate women, in the year 2011, here in the United States. Didn't forcing people who were "different" to sit in the back of the bus end in the 1960s in America?
Unfortunately, religious beliefs are being used to support the acceptability of segregation in Brooklyn. Check out this article about how a publicly-awarded bus route is currently being allowed to segregate women riding the bus: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/nyregion/bus-segregation-of-jewish-women-prompts-review.html.
Judaism does not require that women be forced to the back of the bus - it simply does not require it - and extremist/fundamentalist views should not be allowed to even imply that this is acceptable.
Most of all, Jews have always followed the practice of "Dina d'malchuta dina" ... we are supposed to follow the laws of the land within which we reside. This is not appropriate in the US ... solutions exist where those who choose to live in this way can not break the law ... perhaps it is time to find (and use) them. Oyyyyy. :(
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