The NSS reports that Ofsted has given the thumbs-up to gender segregation in schools.
The National Secular Society has accused Ofsted of “capitulating to oppressive religious demands” after the schools regulator told inspectors that gender segregation in faith schools should not be taken as a sign of inequality.
In recently updated guidance on inspecting publicly funded “faith schools”, inspectors are advised that in Muslim faith schools: “boys and girls may well be taught or seated separately according to the specific context, particularly during collective acts of worship. This should not be taken as a sign of inequality between different genders.”
That’s exactly what it should be taken as a sign of, not least because that’s what it is.
The guidance also cautions inspectors to be mindful to not misinterpret the wearing of the ‘hijab’ or headscarf as a sign of repression but instead to “understand that Muslim females see this as a part of their identity and a commitment to their beliefs within Islam”.
Except of course for the ones who don’t. But that’s fine, Ofsted, just pretend them out of existence. Let them grow up thinking of themselves as pollutants. What could possibly go wrong?
The guidance says most schools have a uniform for boys and girls which represents the “Islamic principle of modesty”.
Inspectors are advised that art and music lessons in Muslim schools can be “restricted”, that health and sex education will be taught within Islamic studies and that daily prayers will often “dictate the shape of the school day”.
In a section on “etiquette”, female inspectors are advised to “wear a trouser suit or longer skirt and jacket to cover their arms”. Female inspectors are also recommended to “carry a scarf in case they enter the prayer room”.
According to the guidance “Muslim men do not usually shake hands with women, and Muslim women do not shake hands with men”. Ofsted advise the “best policy is not to offer to shake hands unless someone offers their hand to you”.
It says inspectors also need to be aware that they may find themselves providing feedback from a lesson to a teacher that may be wearing a full ‘niqaab’ (face and head cover). In some schools male inspectors are told they will need another female present in order to give feedback to a female teacher.
In short, it will be like a little corner of Saudi Arabia. Just play along; it’s all good.
In mixed sex Jewish schools, inspectors are told that boys and girls are “in reality” taught separately – sometimes on two different sites some distance from one another.
When inspecting Jewish schools female inspectors are advised to wear a skirt rather than trousers and a blouse, but that any blouse worn should cover the collar bone. When inspecting strictly ultra-orthodox schools, inspectors are warned to “avoid wearing bright colours, and red in particular”.
The guidance appears to be at odds with Department for Education policy. A spokesperson for the DfE, said: “We are clear that segregation in the classroom is wrong. The Equalities Act applies to all types of school and it is unlawful for schools to discriminate against a pupil by treating them less favourably because of their sex.”
The National Secular Society called on Ofsted to reconsider its guidance.
I should think so.
To be continued.
…“avoid wearing bright colours, and red in particular”.
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As university tests prove, nine out of ten males have their passions aroused beyond the point of no return at the very sight of red: just as happens with bulls in a bull ring.
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I bet it says so in the Koran, too. 😉
I certainly hope other groups do this as well.
One of the articles I read about it stressed that one of the *ahem* ‘contexts’ in which segregation should be considered is sex education. I found this especially disturbing. The idea that boys and girls should be taught different things about sex, particularly in Islamic schools, is horrific.
I guess separate but equal should not have been taken as a sign of inequality for American blacks either.
Reminder: we still have perfectly accepted girls’ (and boys’) schools in Britain, and they are now being used quite intensively by British muslims for the purpose of gender segregating their children during education. But they are also used by white upper and middle class Britons, as they always were, for weird reasons of their own. Half the current government and the prime minister seem to have been educated in gender segregated schools. I doubt the concept shocks them.
I’m pretty sure they’ve been socialised to see submissiveness as part of their identity as well.
#5 Pen, there is some evidence that girls do better in e.g. STEM subjects in single sex schools as there is no chance for them to be treated unfavourably in the classroom compared to boys, but this is different given that in the Muslim schools at least, it seems that the children share a classroom but are segregated which makes it easy for teachers to direct their attention at the boys particularly if they are seated at the front.
#3 Latsot, separating out the genders for sex education is pretty common practice even in co-ed state schools or it was when I was a pupil in the 80s and 90s. Perhaps things have changed now, but the girls used to be corralled off to be talked to about periods and so forth, no doubt protecting the boys’ poor delicate sensibilities. But I agree that in a faith context this seems very sinister indeed.
@Amy
In the UK in the 70s and 80s (at least in my school), sex education lessons included both boys and girls, but girls did have at least one extra lesson about (I’ve always assumed) the practical reality of things like periods. I have no problem with that; I can imagine girls might have questions they’d be embarrassed to ask in front of boys. But in general, boys and girls were told the same things about sex, as woefully inadequate and preachy though it was.
‘ofsted’ – I’ve just realised why the acronym reminded me of Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.
“
boysblacks andgirlswhites may well be taught or seated separately according to the specific context, particularly during collective acts of worship. This should not be taken as a sign of inequality between differentgendersraces.”I wonder what the Ofsted policy is on separate water fountains and bus seating ?
In the USA, particularly in places like New York, there are Orthodox Jewish communities with just these rules, as well. Not long ago there was a huge kerfuffle when the male leaders of the Orthodox Jewish communities were having fits because non-Jewish New York residents were using the public streets; in particular, the female residents of New York were being female (by which I mean existing just like male residents) in public, which is simply intolerable to Orthodox sensibilities. Women riding bikes were being knocked off them, women entering shops were told to leave, women riding buses were ordered to the back, etc.
@steve:
I don’t know why this comparison isn’t obvious to everyone. I don’t know how they can write sentences like that without some kind of klaxon going off in their heads. At least, once a similar comparison has been pointed out to them even once.
As an aside (and not a comment on your comment), have you noticed that MRA types are (fallaciously) using the same technique a lot lately? They replace ‘woman’ with ‘person of colour’ (or whatever) when the comparison is not appropriate in an attempt to ridicule valid arguments and – in particular – the people making them.
For example, if someone writes about most acts of violence on women being committed by men, they’ll rearrange it to say most acts of violence on whites are committed by blacks. The comparison doesn’t make any sense, but they’re counting on people not thinking too much about it and just seeing a refuted feminist statement and another silly girl trying to make noise. I’ve seen it a lot lately. Boils my piss.
@ latsot –
So why did one commenter already point out that separate schools for boys and girls just isn’t the same thing as a segregated classroom. After all, racial segregation also involved separate schools, not separate classrooms. Though actually, I think gender segregated classrooms may have existed in various times and places in the US as well.
PS – USians may like to note, however, that since the UK simply doesn’t have a tradition of racial segregation and since most of the UK is pretty ignorant of US history, it reduces the obviousness of the connection.
@Pen.
I don’t understand your point or why you’re asking me to explain the motives of other commenters as well as an abstract ‘they’ enacted in this case by the subject of the post but in general by a whole bunch of people. I don’t know their motives. That was rather the point of my comment. So you might be better off asking them instead of me.
The comparison I mentioned is obvious to Brits, despite your claim. We don’t have much of a history of racial segregation (at least, in recent times: don’t forget the empire) but we do have an ongoing history of racism and racial abuse. And we all know the smattering of history it takes to understand that racial segregation is bad. The leap to gender segregation also being bad is more like an arthritic hop. But as a sufferer of arthritis, I occasionally appreciate a little help getting to the next step.
That’s what I meant when I said that once someone has pointed out the solid analogy between race and gender in the specific case I was talking about, it surprises me that people can’t automatically see other places where that analogy also holds true.
If we can’t, it’s a failing in ourselves, clearly. We can’t blame it on our ancestors being shitty to other people in a slightly different way to other people’s ancestors.
But they will disagree of course. They will say that just because there is a means of discrimination, that does not mean that the things being discriminated between will be valued differently.
Never mind any questions of if there is rational reason to discriminate, if everyone in both groups want to be discriminated against in such a way, or if there are existing patterns of different treatment currently or historically that can let us know if this is a good idea.
@latsot
That’s fair enough. Actually the point of my comment is to keep on trying to encourage people to adopt a consistent approach to segregation. Frankly, I think a lot of people, including Ophelia, are seeming pretty comfortable with traditional forms of gender segregation, but are freaking out when it’s correlated with Islam. That’s not acceptable. It renders their arguments invalid, and of course, it’s glaringly obvious to the muslim population. They can rightly complain of discrimination in the face of this strategy.
I think we might as well agree to disagree on whether the racial segregation analogy is at all meaningful or helpful in a British context, or any other. I don’t think it is, but it’s not central to the issue.
AnotherAnonymouse @ 11 – what? Do you have any links to reports on that? Are you sure you’re not confusing some of that with what happened in Jerusalem? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything about women being knocked off bikes or told to get out of stores or sent to the back of the bus in New York.
I found one story that’s a little like that, but not exactly. It’s about Hasidim in Williamsburg objecting to a bike lane, with a claim that someone got physical with one female biker.
And there’s this, which is perhaps disgusting enough to merit a post, even though it’s from last fall.
I found one story that’s a little like that, but not exactly.
IN Montréal there’s a YWCA located in an Hasidic neighbourhood. The Y’s exercise room had a large window through which people on the street could see women in gym gear exercising.
The Hasidim were somewhat upset that they could see “naked” women through the window and asked that frosted glass be installed.
The Y complied, although in fairness to the Hasidic community they DID pay for the whole deal…but still.
A few years before that, the same Orthodox community forged an alliance with some Catholic nuns at an Autremont convent to prevent women from sunbathing topless in a nearby park.
They succeeded in getting it banned.
Also, during the city’s mayoral race last fall, a male candidate who ended up winning ( Denis Corderre ) addressed a huge islamist assembly from which ALL women were strickly forbidden…even female reporters and Corderre’s female aids.
Didn’t vote for him.
I have a hunch there’s a lot of this going on.
That one I knew about; I blogged about it when it was in the news.
I think the bus story is this one which is also from Williamsburg:
Back of the bus
And then there’s this:
hasidic sidewalks
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/41/dtg_hasidicsidewalks_2011_10_14_bk.html
Thank you. And thank you Anonymouse for alerting us.
@Ophelia; I remember the bikes story because I was in Brooklyn, visiting relatives, when the story broke on the local news that women were actually being pushed off bikes to keep them from using the public roads. I was appalled and demanded to know if it was true; my relatives (not Jewish) indicated it was, and was a long-standing problem. I tried looking, too, but like you, only came up with stories about bike lanes.
Thanks, embraceyourinnercrone.
Ed Brayton posted on April 18, 2013:
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I couldn’t find articles about Orthodox Jews enforcing sexual segregation in public spaces in the US, but I also remember something to that effect a few years ago in New York.
“#5 Pen, there is some evidence that girls do better in e.g. STEM subjects in single sex schools as there is no chance for them to be treated unfavourably in the classroom compared to boys, but this is different given that in the Muslim schools at least, it seems that the children share a classroom but are segregated which makes it easy for teachers to direct their attention at the boys particularly if they are seated at the front.”
There is also evidence that boys do better in mixed schools. So there has been some trialing of separating by gender for STEM subjects within mixed schools. From what I can recall the results were positive, but uptake has been hampered by the need for additional resources.
And of course PE has long be separated by gender.