{"id":232234,"date":"2026-08-02T05:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T05:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/232234\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T05:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T05:29:08","slug":"israels-gender-segregation-law-undermines-medical-education-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/232234\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel’s gender segregation law undermines medical education, equality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here in Israel, many, including the writer, were shocked to read of the Knesset<\/a> law passed recently expanding gender segregation by permitting universities and colleges<\/a> to offer segregated degree programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This has led to the resignation of five members of Israel\u2019s Council for Higher Education who called it \u201can unprecedented intervention\u201d into the council\u2019s independence; they fear that it could intensify the exclusion of women at universities.<\/p>\n

Prior to the passing of the law, the deans of Israel\u2019s nine medical schools urged lawmakers to reject it outright, stating that it could undermine medical training, international accreditation, and public health.<\/p>\n

The Magazine decided to explore the reaction to this new law, specifically in relation to the study of medicine in Israel, both from an international perspective as well as its effect on medical students.<\/p>\n

The Magazine spoke with Prof. David Katz \u2013 emeritus professor of immunopathology at University College London. He has worked in pathology and hematology at Israel\u2019s Sheba Medical Center<\/a> at Tel Hashomer prior to completing his pathology training and PhD in London.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SHEBASHEBA MEDICAL Center’s new Roman Abramovich Theranostics and Nuclear Medicine Center. (credit: SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER)<\/p>\n

Katz served in 2014 on an external team inspecting Israeli medical schools for the Council for Higher Education. He represents medical academic interests in the British Medical Association and is the immediate past chair of the Jewish Medical Association UK.<\/p>\n

Israel’s medical research, innovation, has international respect<\/p>\n

Over the years, Katz has annually brought prominent British medical leaders to Israel, recognizing that Israel\u2019s research and innovation are respected internationally.<\/p>\n

Information technology has been embraced so that medical reports and records can be accessed seamlessly. In his specific field \u2013 laboratory medicine \u2013 Israeli adoption of advanced methods of molecular and genetic analysis was regarded by these leading British experts as groundbreaking.<\/p>\n

A striking feature, taken for granted by the Israeli hosts, was that the key highly skilled healthcare workers were mostly women with head covering \u2013 both observant Jews and Muslims.<\/p>\n

One of his lasting images of these visits was sitting in the cafe of a medical school and having an open discussion about the stresses in Israeli society with a group of young medical students, the majority of whom were women.<\/p>\n

There were more Arab Israelis among them than he had anticipated, and several of the Jewish Israelis were clearly religiously observant. These students were engaged with diversity among themselves as well as among patients and their families.<\/p>\n

Katz was deeply distressed to hear of any risk to disrupt the above natural scene by introducing intrusive limitations on contacts that gender segregation might create.<\/p>\n

He said we forget, at our peril, that it was just over 100 years since women have been allowed to train as doctors.<\/p>\n

ISRAEL TODAY remains exceedingly short of doctors. One of the reasons is that there are not enough medical schools to take in those Israelis who would like to study medicine. This reality leads to finding places in medical schools abroad, resulting in many choosing not to return to Israel following their qualifying as doctors.<\/p>\n

Katz pointed out that, in the past, in order to boost their finances, Israeli medical schools were limiting home-grown candidates while simultaneously providing offshore training for American students.<\/p>\n

Much has been rectified in recent years, but Katz worries that destabilizing the gains in the cause of separate education for men and women will have repercussions.<\/p>\n

International perspectives about Israel and Israeli qualifications are already parlous. Any such move is likely to add to this, as it will be perceived as representing a demotion of the status of women more in keeping with the situation in Iran than in Israel.<\/p>\n

Katz fears a knock-on effect on the recognition of Israeli qualifications is a potential consequence \u2013 maybe not immediately but when an opportunity arises. He believes this newly passed law will lead to the shortfall in medical educators and mentors becoming exacerbated.<\/p>\n

One of the recent advances in Israeli education and training has been the development of simulation and simulators. Katz asked, \u201cAre male and female students going to be educated respectively on same gender models?\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz\u2019s words should be taken seriously at a time when Israel is experiencing increasing isolation internationally. However, Katz rightly reminded us that since 1948, Israeli medicine has coped with the absorption and integration of immigrant \u201cinternational medical graduates\u201d \u2013 not only in the early years but also with the influx from the former Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Wars, too, have had their impact \u2013 not only in terms of crisis acute medicine but also in rehabilitation and handling of mental as well as physical stress. Sadly, his words ring loud and clear today as we Israelis continue to face war with its ongoing health challenges, both physical and mental.<\/p>\n

How did a current medical student react to the new gender law?<\/p>\n

TO FIND out the reaction of a medical student to the new gender law, the Magazine spoke with Ella Havin, who is about to complete her second year of study at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev<\/a> (BGU) Medical School in Beersheba.<\/p>\n

Why did she choose to study medicine? Her answer: \u201cI served as a paramedic in the army. That experience exposed me to medicine in a very practical way, and I found it fascinating and intellectually challenging. It made me realize that this was a field in which I could see myself growing and developing professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the percentage of women studying there currently, Havin said, \u201cFrom what I have counted in my class, women make up roughly 70% of the medical students. I also asked the same question of a friend studying medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, who, judging by her personal current experience, believes the percentage of women could be even higher than that at Beersheba. Another medical student friend at the Hebrew University estimated that 65% of her classmates were female.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official statistics show that female medical students in Israel make up 63% of students studying medicine today.<\/p>\n

However, the percentage drops dramatically through specialization and high-paying fields with gender pay gaps persisting. Women comprise 20% in general surgery and just 5% in orthopedic surgery.<\/p>\n

Havin\u2019s view of the law just passed: \u201cBased on my own experience at university, I personally find it difficult to imagine how gender separation could realistically be implemented. A large proportion of both the students and the teaching staff are women, and everything is currently fully integrated. It would require major logistical changes, plus significant funding in which I cannot see universities willing to invest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimultaneously, while I understand the argument that separate classes might enable those from more conservative communities to pursue higher education, my overall view is that, whenever possible, mixed education is the better approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs medicine is a profession where men and women work together every day, it makes more sense if medical students learn together from the outset. More broadly, I worry that greater separation can lead to unequal opportunities or differences in the educational experience, even if that isn\u2019t the intention. Personally, I would rather see universities remain places where everyone studies together.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we approach the forthcoming national election on October 27, we can but hope that the views of Prof. Katz and of medical student Ella Havin will resonate with the newly elected government.<\/p>\n

The writer is president of Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association and has chaired public affairs organizations in Israel and the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here in Israel, many, including the writer, were shocked to read of the Knesset law passed recently expanding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[30629,22861,60058,37,17688,20715,6762,1546],"class_list":["post-232234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-doctor","tag-gender","tag-gender-segregation","tag-israel","tag-medical","tag-medicine","tag-school","tag-training"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117024271317333052","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}