Israel's parliament is to rethink its dress code after staff complained they had been denied entry because their skirts were deemed "too short".
Several female employees say they have been delayed on the way to their offices by dress code inspections or even denied entry to the Knesset altogether.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Several members of the Knesset (MKs) reportedly said the aides were dressed like "Sodom and Gomorrah".
The official regulations forbid "short" skirts and dresses but give no measurements, leaving the decision at the discretion of female security guards, Ha'aretz reports, adding: "No men were denied entrance due to their attire."
Parliamentary aide Kesem Rozenblat told AFP that dress code inspections were arbitrary. "I've worn this same dress many times," she said. "Maybe they're scared of women's legs, I don't know."
Around 50 female staff members, many in short skirts, protested the action in the entrance hall of the Knesset on Wednesday morning.
MK Merav Michaeli tweeted a picture of some women she claimed had been denied entry, adding: "Iran is here, in the Knesset."
Manuel Trajtenberg, an MK for the centre-left Zionist Union, strip off his shirt in solidarity with a female aide who had been ordered to open her coat so a security guard could check the length of her dress.
"Tomorrow, you'll all have to wear burkas," shouted the politician, as, wearing only a white vest, he took his place alongside the female protesters.
"We need to respect and not humiliate these amazing women who work with all their hearts," he added, reports Jerusalem Post.
Knesset officials "denounced the protest in a statement as an 'organised provocation' and said security staff were just 'doing their work to enforce a dress code that has been in place for years'", Al Jazeera reports.
After what Ha'aretz calls a "stormy meeting", Speaker of the House Yuli Edelstein agreed that the current dress code will be suspended and a revised policy drawn up, specifying once and for all what constitutes an unacceptable hemline.
-
Movies to watch in Februarythe week recommends Time travelers, multiverse hoppers and an Iraqi parable highlight this month’s offerings during the deep of winter
-
ICE’s facial scanning is the tip of the surveillance icebergIN THE SPOTLIGHT Federal troops are increasingly turning to high-tech tracking tools that push the boundaries of personal privacy
-
‘My donation felt like a rejection of the day’s politics’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
