2013 Conference
GENDERED RITES/GENDERED RIGHTS:
Sex Segregation, Religious Practice, and Public Life
Sunday, April 14 - Monday, April 15, 2013
The Edie and Lew Wasserman Cinematheque, Sachar International Center and Hassenfeld Conference Center
415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453
Many religious traditions prescribe different roles for men and women in religious practice and public life. These forms of sex segregation are often at odds with civic society's ideals of gender equality, as well as with its legal requirements. Honoring both women's right to equality and the importance of cultural and religious traditions, this conference, hosted by the HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion, and the Law, will explore the historical roots and theoretical justifications for sex segregation while striving to identify appropriate and effective responses to it.
Space is limited. Please RSVP to hbi@brandeis.edu
Parking is available in Theater Lot for Sunday’s program.
If attending Monday’s program, please park in the Charles River (J) Lot. A shuttle will be provided.
Questions: hbi@brandeis.edu or 781-736-3116
Keynote
Sunday, April 14, 7pm-9pm
The Edie and Lew Wasserman Cinematheque, Sachar International Center, Brandeis University
415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453 (map/directions)
5th Annual Diane (Dina) Markowicz Lecture on Gender and Human Rights
Presented by Anat Hoffman.
Women in Israel: From the Back of the Bus To the Top of the Agenda
In recent years, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have demanded increased standards of modesty for women in the public sphere. This has resulted in sex segregation in public transportation, exclusion of women from public ceremonies and events, discrimination against women at the Western Wall, and the silencing of women singers on the radio and at army ceremonies. Anat Hoffman, director of Women at the Wall and the Israel Religious Action Center, has been instrumental in bringing legal challenges to the exclusion or segregation of women in pubic settings. These cases have become litmus tests for the extent to which religious law can influence civil law. In this talk, she will look at landmark victories against sex segregation and explore the challenges that still remain.
Conference Program
GENDERED RITES/GENDERED RIGHTS:
Sex Segregation, Religious Practice, and Public Life
Monday, April 15, 2013 | Brandeis University
Hassenfeld Conference Center, Luria Rooms
415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02454 (map/directions)
8:30 am: Continental breakfast and registration
9:00 am: Welcome, Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, Director of the HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion, and the Law
9:15 - 11:15 AM: PANEL I: NEGOTIATING BORDERLINES BETWEEN RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
Moderator: Bernadette Brooten, Brandeis University
Sex-segregation and the Concept of "Rape Spheres" in Medieval Ashkenaz
Merav Schnitzer, Tel Aviv University/HBI Scholar-in-Residence
Implications of the Vatican Commitment to Complementarity for Gendered Rites and Gendered Rights
Mary Ann Case, University of Chicago
Why was Amina Lawal Sentenced to Death by Stoning in Contemporary Northern Nigeria?: The Interplay of Legal, Public and Gender Boundaries.
Sarah Eltantawi, Harvard University/HBI Scholar-in-Residence
11:15 – 11:30 am: Break
11:30 AM – 1:15 PM PANEL II: MODESTY, SEX SEGREGATION AND PUBLIC LIFE
Moderator: Layah Lipsker, HBI Research Associate
"I understood that, as a woman, I was forbidden to approach the front of the bus myself": Sex Segregation in Public Transportation in Israel
Lisa Fishbayn Joffe , Director, HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and Law
Niqab Bans and Secular Sex Segregation
Beverley Baines, Queens University Canada
A Beach of Their Own: Israel’s First Gender Segregated Beach
Shayna Weiss, New York University
A Mehitza in the Head—Women’s Hair Covering in Rabbinic Texts Read Anthropologically Hillel
Athias-Robles, Columbia University
1:30 — 2:00 pm: Lunch
2:00 – 3:30 PANEL III: TRENDS IN SEX SEGREGATION: ISRAEL, AMERICA AND BEYOND
Moderator: Sylvia Barack Fishman, HBI/Brandeis University
Women’s Education in the Satmar Chassidism
Ilan Fuchs, Research Associate, HBI Project on Gender, Culture Religion, and the Law
Religious Texts as Segregated Spaces in Judaism and Islam: Challenges in Women’s Access and Study Today
Lisa Anteby-Yemini, Universite de Aix en Provence
Religious Cross-Pollination: The Relationship between Trends Towards Increased Gender Segregation in Israel and American Orthodox Culture
Elana Maryles Sztokman, Executive Director, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
3:30 pm: Closing Remarks