A regressive step: Israel's gender segregation law undermines medical education, equality - opinion

The Knesset passed a law expanding gender segregation in universities, prompting five Council for Higher Education members to resign and medical school deans to warn of risks. Prof. David Katz and student Ella Havin voice concerns about impacts on medical training, international standing, and women's representation, which drops from 63% of students to 20% in surgery.

The Knesset recently passed a law expanding gender segregation by permitting universities and colleges to offer segregated degree programs. This prompted the resignation of five members of Israel's Council for Higher Education, who called it an unprecedented intervention into the council's independence and feared it could intensify exclusion of women. Prior to the law's passage, deans of Israel's nine medical schools urged lawmakers to reject it, stating it could undermine medical training, international accreditation, and public health. The Magazine explored reactions, speaking with Prof. David Katz, emeritus professor of immunopathology at University College London, who has inspected Israeli medical schools and brings British medical leaders to Israel. Katz expressed deep distress at potential disruptions to integrated medical education, noting Israel is short of doctors and that destabilizing gains could have repercussions. He fears a knock-on effect on recognition of Israeli qualifications and exacerbation of the shortfall in medical educators. The Magazine also spoke with Ella Havin, a second-year medical student at Ben-Gurion University, who said women make up roughly 70% of her class. Official statistics show female medical students comprise 63%, but drop to 20% in general surgery and 5% in orthopedic surgery. Havin finds it difficult to imagine implementing gender separation, citing logistical changes and funding, and believes mixed education is better since medicine involves men and women working together daily.