Sex segregation
Sex segregation is the physical and sometimes legal separation of people according to their gender or sex at any age. Sex segregation can simply refer to the physical and spatial separation by sex without any connotation of illegal discrimination. In other circumstances, sex segregation can be controversial. 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. Rarely some sources may refer to sex segregation as sex separation, sex partition, gender segregation, gender separation, or gender partition
Sex segregation is a global phenomenon manifested differently in varying localities. Sex segregation and integration considered harmless or normal in one country can be considered radical or illegal in others. At the same time, many laws and policies promoting segregation or desegregation recur across multiple national contexts. Safety and privacy concerns, traditional values and cultural norms, and belief that sex segregation can produce positive educational and overall social outcomes all shape public policy regarding sex segregation.
Definitions
The term "sex" in "sex segregation" refers to the biological distinctions between men and women, used in contrast to "gender". The term "segregation" refers to separation of the sexes, which can be enforced by rules, laws, and policies, or be a de facto outcome in which people are separated by sex. 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”. Sex segregation can refer to literal physical and spatial separation by sex. The term is also used for the exclusion of one sex from participation in an occupation, institution, or group. Sex segregation can be complete or partial, as when members of one sex predominate within, but do not exclusively constitute, a group or organization.In the United States some scholars use the term sex separation and not sex segregation.
The term gender apartheid also has been applied to segregation of people by gender, implying that it is sexual discrimination. If sex segregation is a form of sex discrimination, its effects have important consequences for gender equality and equity.
Types
Sex segregation can occur in both public and private contexts, and be classified in many ways. It is the practice of separating people based on their gender and can take a variety of forms in different contexts. Legal and gender studies scholar David S. Cohen offers one taxonomy in categorizing sex segregation as mandatory, administrative, permissive, or voluntary. Mandatory and administrative sex segregation are required and enforced by governments in public environments, while permissive and voluntary sex segregation are stances chosen by public or private institutions, but within the capacity of the law. Examples: Separate restrooms and locker rooms for men and women in public buildings, sex-segregated prisons or detention centers, sex-specific sports competitions, especially where physical differences are considered important.Mandatory
Mandatory sex segregation is legally required and enforces separation based on sex. Examples include separation of men and women in prisons, law enforcement, military service, public toilets, and housing. These mandatory rules can be nuanced, as in military service, where sexes are often separated in laws about conscription, in housing, and in regulations on which sexes can participate in certain roles, like frontline infantry. 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. Mandatory sex segregation can thus dictate parameters for employment in sex segregated spaces, including medical and care work contexts, and can be a form of occupational segregation. For example, a government may mandate that clinics hire female nurses to care for female patients.Administrative
Administrative sex segregation involves public and government institutions segregating by sex in their operating capacity, rather than as the result of a formal mandate. This segregation often stems from practical considerations, organizational norms, or social expectations, rather than formal legal requirements. Examples of administrative sex segregation include sex segregation in government sponsored medical research, sports leagues, public hospitals with shared rooms, rehabilitation programs, and some public education facilities. Administrative sex segregation can occur in these environments simply as through the provisioning of sex segregated public toilets despite limited explicit legal requirements to do so.Permissive
Permissive sex segregation is segregation which is explicitly permitted by law, i.e. affirmatively authorized, but not necessarily legally required or encouraged. 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.Voluntary
Sex segregation that is neither legally mandated, nor enacted in an administrative capacity, nor explicitly permitted by law, is recognized as voluntary sex segregation. Voluntary sex segregation refers to lack of explicit legal prescriptions; it does not necessarily indicate the free choice of either the segregated or the segregators, and it may be imposed by social and cultural norms. Voluntary sex segregation takes place in numerous national professional and interest-based membership organizations, local and larger clubs, professional sports teams, private recreational facilities, religious institutions, performing arts, and more.Theory
Libertarianism
Briefly Libertarian feminist theory says that legal and governmental institutions should not regulate choices and should allow people's free will to govern their life trajectories. Libertarianism takes a free market approach to sex segregation saying that women have a natural right and are the most informed to make decisions for themselves but rejects special protections specifically for women.Libertarianism most directly relates to voluntary sex segregation as it maintains that the government should not regulate private institutions or entities' segregation by sex and should not regulate how individuals privately group themselves. Libertarian feminist David Berstein argues that while sex segregation can cause harm, guarding the freedom of choice for men and women is more important than preventing such sex segregation since methods of prevention can often cause more harm than good for both sexes. Women's health clubs are an example of how sex segregation benefits women since desegregation would interfere with women's abilities to exercise without the distraction of men and 'ogling' without any direct benefit to allowing men a membership. Additionally, libertarians would allow for permissive sex segregation since it allows people to choose how to organize their interactions and relationships with others.
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. As such, libertarianism could allow or reject specific forms of sex segregation created to account for natural or biological differences between the sexes.
Equal treatment
Equal treatment theory or formal equity often works in tandem with libertarianism in that equal treatment theorists believe governments should treat men and women similarly when their situations are similar. 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. For example, equal treatment theory was adopted by many feminists during the United States' feminist movement in the 1970s. This utilization of equal treatment theory led to the adoption of intermediate scrutiny as a standard for sex discrimination on the basis that men and women should be treated equally when in similar situations. While equal treatment theory provides a sound framework for equality, application is quite tricky, as many critics question the standards by which men and women should be treated similarly or differently. 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. Some forms of mandatory and administrative segregation may perpetuate sex segregation by depicting a difference between male and female employees where there is no such difference, as in combat exclusion policies.Difference feminism
Difference feminism arose from libertarianism and equal treatment theories' perceived failure to create systemic equality for women. Difference feminism celebrates biological, psychological, moral differences between men and women, accusing laws concerning sex segregation of diluting these important differences. Difference feminists believe that such laws not only ignore these important differences, but also can exclude participation of women in the world. Difference feminism's goal is to bring about a consciousness of women's femininity and to cause the revaluation of women's attributes in a more respectful, reverent manner.Difference feminism and equal treatment theory are quite contrasting feminist theories of sex segregation. Difference feminism often justifies sex segregation through women's and men's differences while equal treatment theory does not support separation because of differences in sex. Difference feminism, however, argues against segregation that stems from societal and "old-fashioned" differences between men and women, but believes that segregation that takes women's differences into account and promotes equality is acceptable, even going so far as to say that some forms of sex segregation are necessary to ensure equality, such as athletics and education, and policies such as Title IX.