The court accepted the IWN's position that a training program intended exclusively for male civil servants is a discriminatory practice, even if it serves an important purpose of integrating the Ultra-Orthodox population in the civil service in Israel. The court ordered that if at least 10 women will not be enrolled in the course, it will be discontinued. The IWN claimed that when the state conducts a segregated course, it accepts and institutionalizes gender segregation that cannot be accepted in a democratic state.
IWN director and attorney Michal Gera Margaliot said the court had delivered a clear message that gender separation in civil service was prohibited.
“You cannot take us backwards by decades, and acceptance for employment cannot be done according to gender,” she said. “It would be better for the state to integrate haredi men and women in the civil service and not lead toward the ejection of women from the public domain and the workforce.”