Gender seperation at Carmiel employment office

Director of Employment Services Board says separate admission days not coerced on public, implemented following request of Druze sector

Maor Buchnik|Published: 12.18.11 , 17:55

Not only on buses – The Carmiel Employment Bureau has assigned separate admission days for men and women wishing to sign for unemployment, Ynet learned on Sunday.

The bureau confirmed it has separate office hours, saying it is "more convenient" to provide service for men and women on separate days. "It prevents stress and chaos in the waiting room and is more esthetic," one of the office clerks told Ynet.

Related stories:

"The first time unemployment registration is open to all, but after that women are required to come on Tuesdays and men are admitted on Sundays," she added.

Director of the Employment Services Board Yossi Farhi stressed that the segregation is by law, because it was not coerced on the public, but was rather implemented at the request of the Druze public.

'Respect for public's feelings.' (Archive picture: Yaron Brener)

"The employment bureau has had separate office hours for years – ever since it moved from Beit Jann to Carmiel. The office mainly services the Druze and Arab sector, and they have requested to have separate days," said Farhi.

Farhi noted that if a Jewish woman wishes to sign for unemployment on days that are assigned to men "the clerics are instructed not to refuse her.

"According to our legal advisor, as long as the segregation is not by coercion, and the bureau allows for exceptions, than it's legal," he said.

Asked whether separate office hours exist in other bureaus around the country, Farhi said "as far as I know there are no separate office hours in any other place in the Jewish sector, even not in Bnei Brak."

However, Farhi noted that there might be separate office hours in other offices that serve the Arab and Bedouin sectors, adding that "it's important to respect the feelings of minorities."