麻豆社

This week the issue of segregation on the grounds of gender hit the headlines over the separation of men and women at an Islamic society meeting held at a university. Those involved were challenged as to whether this was a form of segregation akin to separation on racial lines. In other words, a kind of gender apartheid. Yesterday, on this programme, one Muslim, Sara Khan, said it was patriarchy dressed up in religious language, while another, Saleem Chagtai, defended such divisions as enabling people to focus their heart, mind, body and soul on what is at hand.
In a society where so many people make equality their prime consideration, segregation is seen as discrimination and unnatural, so we reject it.
But my own experience shows that segregation can have advantages. When I enjoyed a pre-Christmas get together with a group of my schoolfriends this week and thought of the people I鈥檇 grown up alongside amongst whom are now a doctor, solicitors, a barrister and headteachers, I did wonder: might that success be down to the fact that we spent seven years in a gender-segregated environment, at an all girls school run by nuns?
I don鈥檛 know if the original idea for convents and single sex schools was to avoid distractions, but their outcomes can be positive. Research into the impact of single-sex schools suggest that girls regardless of their ability and status perform better in classrooms with fellow females. They are more confident and participate more. And with nuns among our teachers, the idea of women living together separately from men does not seem odd to me either.

But on the other hand, segregation is not always a positive experience and not just in religions. Premier League football clubs, working men鈥檚 clubs, even most of the boardrooms of the FTSE鈥檚 top companies are male dominated: women are hardly in the ascendant.

And when we do encounter different points of view, it can be a challenge to our own entrenched position. When I was taken aback by an orthodox rabbi who would not shake my hand, was it a form of discrimination on his part, or a failure on mine to understand and respect his faith tradition?
One of the most powerful Christian Scripture readings is from the letter of Paul to the Galatians, placing all people in equality before God. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus鈥�, says Paul. That鈥檚 a reminder 鈥� albeit often forgotten by the Churches 鈥� from one of the greatest Christian teachers that difference is not divinely ordained; it鈥檚 man鈥檚 way to put up divisions and barriers.