Description

In recent years, the clash between religious conservative beliefs and the right to equality is escalating. In the US, the struggle rages over women’s reproductive rights and recognition of same sex marriages. In Israel, the struggle takes place over the segregation of women in the public sphere for religious reasons. Religious liberty, freedom of conscience, multiculturalism and the right to equality are used by all involved to justify opposing positions. The talk will describe the facts of the Israeli case, present and refute religious conservatives’ arguments in favour of segregating women in the public sphere, and compare the struggle in Israel to the struggle over women’s reproductive rights and gay right to marriage in the US.

About The Speaker

Professor Gila Stopler is Dean of the Law School and an associate professor at the College of Law & Business. She serves as the editor-in-chief of the journal Law & Ethics of Human Rights (LEHR) [LEHR is ranked 3rd in the world in the category of Human Rights and fourth in the category of Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, according to the Washington & Lee Law Review Ranking (2017)]. Her areas of expertise include constitutional Law, comparative constitutional law, religion state relations, multiculturalism, women’s rights and democratic erosion. She holds a JSD from NYU School of Law, where she later served as a Tikvah Fellow (faculty fellow) at the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization. She served as Chair of the Board of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel from 2013 to 2017.