Why is it okay to discriminate against women for religious reasons? [View all]

Not very long ago I met a young man at a business function. “Hello, I’m Amanda,” I said, sticking out my hand in greeting. He kept his arms glued to his side. “I don’t touch women,” he said.

He was, I realized belatedly, a deeply Orthodox Jew whose tradition prohibited even minor physical contact between men and women outside their families. I nodded politely and moved on. But the encounter deeply troubled me, then and now. Faced with someone who refused to shake my hand because of who I was, I defaulted to social courtesy, wishing neither to make a fuss nor disparage this young man’s religious beliefs.

Yet later I wondered: Why are biased acts against women — even religiously motivated ones — considered so much less toxic than biased acts of any other kind? Why do women often demur and accept humiliation rather than make a fuss? Why does respect even for admittedly extreme religious beliefs trump respect for half the human race?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-is-it-okay-to-discriminate-against-women-for-religious-reasons/2015/04/19/95939e9e-e519-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html?hpid=z3

Interesting read. I was brought up to respect all religious beliefs even those that were blatantly discriminatory against women, and not to knowingly behave in any manner that would be offensive. That is so ingrained that I would demur without even thinking about it if, for example, I was asked to move to another seat on an airplane to accommodate an Orthodox Jew who would not sit beside a woman. Only later I would stew about it.

Amanda Bennett goes on to ask the obvious question: "Would such blatant behavior be treated merely as a social choice, a courtesy issue or an awkward airline customer-service problem if the targets were anyone other than women?" The answer is obviously "no" yet many find it OK when it is women.

Where do we draw the line in social situations?