Sex segregation

Depending on the circumstances, it can be a violation of capabilities and human rights and can create economic inefficiencies; on the other hand, some supporters argue that it is central to certain religious laws and social and cultural histories and traditions.

Even as a de facto outcome, sex segregation taken as a whole can be caused by societal pressures, historical practices, socialized preferences and “fundamental biological differences”.

Legal and gender studies scholar David S. Cohen offers one taxonomy in categorizing sex segregation as mandatory, administrative, permissive, or voluntary.

[3] Examples include separation of men and women in prisons, law enforcement, military service, public toilets, and housing.

[3] Mandatory sex segregation also includes less obvious cases of separation, as when men and women are required to have same-sex attendants for body searches.

[3] Permissive sex segregation exempts certain things from anti-sex-discrimination laws, often allowing for, among others, segregation of religious and military schools, undergraduate schools that have traditionally admitted based on sex, health clubs, athletic teams, social fraternities and sororities, choirs and choruses, voluntary youth service organizations such as the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, father/son and mother/daughter activities, and sex-exclusive beauty pageants and scholarships.

[3] Libertarian feminists acknowledge that there is legal precedence for sex segregation laws, but argue for such parameters to ensure equal treatment of similarly situated men and women.

[16][17] In countries whose governments have taken to legislation eliminating sex segregation, equal treatment theory is most frequently used as support for such rules and regulation.

[17] In this manner, libertarianism and equal treatment theory provide good foundations for their agendas in sex segregation, but conceptually do not prevent it, leaving room for mandatory and administrative sex segregation to remain as long as separation is based on celebrated differences between men and women.

[3] Anti-subordination feminist theory examines sex segregation of power to determine whether women are treated or placed subordinately compared to men in a law or situation.

[27] It creates the need to examine mandatory and administrative sex segregation to determine whether or if they sustain racial stereotypes, particularly towards women of color.

[30][31] Anti-essentialists believe that there should not be an idea of what constitutes masculinity or femininity, but that individual characteristics should be fluid to eliminate sex and gender-based stereotypes.

Worldwide, laws often mandate sex segregation in public toilets, changing rooms, showers, and similar spaces, based on a common perceived need for privacy.

For example, sex-segregated buses, women-only passenger cars, and compartments on trains have been introduced in Mexico, Japan, the Philippines, the UAE and other countries to reduce sexual harassment.

In Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, monastic orders, prayer spaces, and leadership roles have also been segregated by sex.

[45] From a policy perspective, theocracies and countries with a state religion have sometimes made sex segregation laws based partially in religious traditions.

In the South Asian context, one institution conducive to sex segregation, sometimes but not always rooted in national law, is purdah.

[66] Cambodia, Laos, Morocco, and Namibia are countries with the least amount of gender segregation in tertiary studies while Croatia, Finland, Japan, and Lithuania have the most.

Examples include government quotas, gender-specific scholarships, co-ed recreational leagues, or programming designed to change social norms.

For example, the United Nations and Western countries have encouraged kings of Saudi Arabia to end its strict segregation of institutions such as schools, government institutions, hospitals, and other public spaces in order to secure women's rights in Saudi Arabia[73] Even though the removal of certain religious and government heads has made way for liberal agendas to promote desegregation, the public largely still subscribes to the idea of a segregated society, while institutions and the government itself still technically remain under the control of Wahhabism.

The public views the 1.6 meter wall favorably, saying that it will lead to less instances of harassment by men visiting the expatriate women in the shops.

[78] While specifically segregating by sex for playtime has not been linked to any long-lasting effects on women's rights compared to men, these different manners of socialization often lead to communication and power struggles between men and women and to differential life decisions by each sex based on these long-established gendered identities.

[84] These differences can impact access to competition, gender identity construction, and external as well as internalized perceptions of capabilities, especially among young girls.

[36] At the same time, sex segregated public toilets may promote a gender binary that excludes transgender people.

Male and female voices are distinctive both solo and in ensemble, and segregated singing has an evolved and established aesthetic.

Schultz contends that "the courts have failed to recognize the role of employers in shaping women's work aspirations."

Men benefit financially from family roles such as a husband and a father, while women's incomes are lowered when becoming a wife and mother.

[92] These segregations have persisted because of governmental policy, blocked access for a sex, and/or the existence of sex-based societal gender roles and norms.

[1] Schultz (1990) article indicates that "working-class women have made it a priority to end job segregation for they want opportunities that enable them to support them and their families."

(Schultz, 1990:1755)[89] Additionally, economic development in countries is positively correlated with female workers in wage employment occupations and negatively correlated with female workers in unpaid or part-time work, self-employment, or entrepreneurship, job sectors often seen occupied by women in developing countries.