Jewish sect bans mothers from driving children to school

CHILDREN at two ultra-orthodox Jewish schools in north London could be turned away at the gates if mothers defy the sect’s ban on women driving.

Letters explaining the crackdown – which affects around 850 pupils at the independent schools – were sent to members of the Hasidic Belz community last week.

Rabbis have declared that having female drivers goes against ‘the traditional rules of modesty in our camp’, according to the Jew- ish Chronicle. The edict, which comes into force in August, is said to have come on the instructions of the sect’s leader in Israel.

It stated that there had been an increased incidence of ‘mothers of pupils who have started to drive’, which had led to ‘great resentment among parents of pupils’.

Yesterday a statement from Neshei Belz, which represents women of the community in London, appeared to support the ruling, saying: ‘We believe that driving a vehicle is a high-pressured activity where our values may be compromised by exposure to selfishness, road rage, bad language and other inappropriate behaviour.’

Some Hasidic sects discourage women from driving, but the Belz ruling is thought to be the first formal ban in the UK.

Ella Marks, from the League of Jewish Women, likened the ban to the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia, where they are banned from getting behind the wheel. She described it as ‘damaging to the image of mainstream Jewry’.

Dina Brawer, of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, said there was no ‘scriptural, textual or legal’ basis for the ban. She criticised the Belz leaders, accusing them of seeing any role that women take outside the home as ‘a bit of a problem and somehow it’s hard for them to see women being independent’.