The campaign to end gender separation in public places is spreading like wildfire. Last week a rally in Beit Shemesh, organized by several organizations including NIF grantee Yisrael Hofshit (Be Free Israel), attracted thousands of protesters and received widespread coverage in the Israeli and international media.

Protestors from Yisrael Hofshit (Be Free Israel) demonstrate in Beit Shemesh
with placards saying "Stop the exclusion of women now."

The demonstration followed the abuse of young religious girls attending the city's Orot School by ultra-Orthodox extremists. The plight of 8 year-old Naama Margolese, a religious US immigrant who was sworn at each day and called a prostitute by ultra-Orthodox men for her allegedly immodest dress, served as a catalyst for the efforts in the city. Margolese told AP, "When I walk to school in the morning, I used to get a tummy ache because I was so scared that they were going to stand and start yelling and spitting."

Two weeks ago, Tanya Rosenblit became a national hero after refusing to sit at the back of a segregated bus, drawing police intervention to force an ultra-Orthodox passenger to back down from his refusal to let the bus operate.

And this week, Yisrael Hofshit staged another well-publicized protest as hundreds of Israeli women and men participated in a freedom-ride: boarding gender segregated buses and sitting together on lines in Jerusalem, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Rehovot. Yisrael Hofshit head Micki Gitzin said, "Buses have become the symbol in the struggle to return women to the public sphere."

"This is not the society I want to live or raise my children in,” said Jerusalem resident Alon Visser, who initiated the event. “Gender segregation violates the law and human rights."