Passengers clash over gender segregation
Incident between woman, ultra-Orthodox Jewish man renews reasonable accommodation debate
An uncomfortable moment between passengers aboard a New Jersey-to-Toronto flight has renewed the debate over reasonable accommodation and the balance between competing rights.
Former Halifax chef Christine Flynn said a flight attendant asked if she would move when an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man refused to sit next to her aboard Porter Airlines Flight 121 on Monday. She declined, uncomfortable with the other passenger’s manner, she said.
“He came down the aisle, he didn’t actually look at me … or make eye contact. He turned to the gentleman across the aisle and said, ‘Change,’ ” Flynn told CBC News.
The matter was resolved when another passenger volunteered to switch seats, but Flynn is now seeking an apology from Porter.
“He could have made a plan, he could have put in a request,” Flynn said on CBC of the other passenger. “When someone doesn’t look at you, and when someone doesn’t acknowledge you as a person because of your gender, you’re a lot less willing to be accommodating.
“Leaving it to the last minute and expecting me to move is appalling.
“He’s expecting me to fall in to that archetypical feminine role and acquiesce.”
Brad Cicero, director of communications and public affairs at Porter Airlines, said the situation isn’t common, but it isn’t unique, and the airline is considering a formal policy.
“This was not a situation where she was forced to move; we always want to accommodate all of our passengers. But we are looking into formalizing the informal ways in which we’ve handled this in the past.”
Air Canada’s manager of corporate communications, Peter Fitzpatrick, said the airline tries to accommodate requests for seat changes, for whatever reason, when possible.
“Each situation is different and many variables come into play, including how full the plane is. Our crews do their best to accommodate customer requests, and we have found fellow passengers do the same,” Fitzpatrick said.
Such disputes are not confined to Judaism, or to travel.
In the last few years, several flights have been delayed from New York to Israel, causing anywhere from 15 minute to several hour-long delays, when ultraOrthodox Jewish men on board refused to sit next to women.
Most flights out of Saudi Arabia — where much of society is segregated — involve rearranging passengers to better accommodate men and women who do not want to sit next to each other; often, women will leave flights entirely if they have to sit alone.
In February 2014, a female Saudi student died after male medics were prevented from entering the women-only campus.
In Israel, ultra-Orthodox Jews have set up gender-segregated bus lines and sidewalks.
“I have experienced this, but because I’m more sensitized, Jewish and understand, I’ve let it go. I’ve had men who won’t even look at me and face the ground, but I’m a person, not just a body,” said Yedida Eisensat, assistant professor of Jewish studies at York University.
“From a feminist perspective, women want to be related to not as female bodies but rather as equal fellow human beings.”
Eric Caplan, associate professor of Jewish studies at McGill University, said “it is hard to define (such) actions as sexist” because sexism ‘’has more to do with prejudice than with obedience to the divine will.”
But, he added: “Of course, it is not clear at all that Judaism requires such strict separation, and it is possible that the religious laws in this area are being applied in a way that reflects human prejudices, including sexism.”