Gender segregation not "alien to our culture", says Universities UK chief

Nicola Dandridge said: ‘If people feel more comfortably about sitting separately, and that’s invariably the situation that will arise in these cases, then universities have to listen to those views.’ Photograph: Geoff Wilson

Gender segregation is not completely “alien to our culture”, the leader of a universities organisation said as she defended controversial guidance on the voluntary separation of men and women at events on campus.

Nicola Dandridge, the chief executive of Universities UK, insisted that institutions would not enforce segregation but if participants were happy to sit in separate groups that would be permitted as long as there was no disadvantage.

The row over segregation has sparked protests from students, and the shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, said he was “horrified” by Universities UK’s position.

Last month a Universities UK report presented some hypothetical case studies that come up on campuses, including whether a speaker from an ultra-orthodox religious group requests an audience is segregated by gender.

The report states that university officials must consider both freedom of speech obligations and discrimination and equality laws when considering such a request.

It says that if officials decide to proceed with an event with segregation, they must consider whether a seating plan would be discriminatory to one gender.

For instance if women were forced to sit at the back of the room it could prove harder for them to participate in the debate and could be discriminatory for the female attendees.

But it goes on to say that if side-by-side seating were enforced without offering an alternative non-segregated seating area, it could be deemed as discriminatory against men or women who hold feminist beliefs.

Dandridge told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “We are not talking about universities enforcing segregation. One of the questions that runs through our case study which illustrates this questions is: ‘Is this segregation voluntary, have the people who are likely to come to this event agreed to the segregation?’

“That is something that would be fundamentally important to the university in making a decision. In practice if the people coming to this event said: ‘We do not want to segregate and separate out men and women’ it is inconceivable that the university would impose it on them.

“What we are talking about in practice is voluntary segregation and that’s what happens in practice if people participating choose.”

Rejecting comparisons to racial segregation, she said: “It is possible for women to choose to be educated in an all-women environment. It’s not something which is so alien to our culture that it has to be regarded like race segregation, which is totally different and it’s unlawful and there’s no doubt about that whatsoever.”

She said that a university would prevent an event going ahead if there was pressure being put on women to sit in certain places.

Dandridge added: “What is very uncomfortable about this argument is you are assuming that we have the right to impose views on participants. If the participants say this is how they want it to be, it is not appropriate for us to disregard their views.

“If people feel more comfortably about sitting separately, and that’s invariably the situation that will arise in these cases, then universities have to listen to those views.

“We are not talking about teaching, lectures, the core business of universities. This particular case study is very specific: it’s talking about an event to discuss faith in the modern world in the course of a series of lectures about different approaches to religion.”

She said she was happy to publish legal advice and added: “What the law says is that segregation on the grounds of gender may or may not be a disadvantage. What this case study is exploring is when it may be a disadvantage and where it may not be.

“In circumstances where the audience is saying that they prefer to sit in different groups then we are saying that universities should respect their views providing – and this is critical – providing that there is no disadvantage to either men or women.”

“This is about ensuring that everyone has the right to sit where they want, including those who wish to sit in separate areas. That element of voluntary choice is really critical, it’s not a question of imposing views on students here.”

Umunna told Today a future Labour government would outlaw segregation on campus.

He said: “I was horrified by what I heard … let me be absolutely clear, a future Labour government would not allow or tolerate segregation in our universities.

“It offends basic norms in our society. Of course people should be free to practise their religion privately in places of worship and at religious events.

“But universities are publicly funded places of research, learning and teaching and, as such, there is no place in my view for state-sponsored segregation.”

Gender segregation not "alien to our culture", says Universities UK chief

Africa Week zooms in on culture, new possibilities

This previous week, the Yale African Students’ Association (YASA) hosted its annual Africa Week — 6 days of speakers, film screenings and cultural demonstrates on campus to celebrate a lesser-acknowledged face of the world’s second-largest continent.

The theme of Africa Week this 12 months was “Africa 360: A Panoramic Perspective of the Continent.” The week — which lasted from Nov. eleven to 17 and featured speakers ranging from the founder of news outlet Africa.com to the king of the Akyem Abuakwa classic area of Ghana — aimed to encourage a new viewpoint on African life, mentioned Ameze Belo-Osagie ’16, vice president of YASA.

“Often when we have discussions about Africa on campus, they are typically related to growth,” Belo-Osagie mentioned. “We speak about safety and corruption, but we do not talk about culture, literature or background. We really needed to make the level that there are people making exciting contributions in a great deal of diverse ways, and we wanted to place that on Yale students’ radars.”

The week’s occasions had been geared toward the wealthy culture of Africa, rather than focusing solely on politics, mentioned YASA President Metabel Markwei ’15. For illustration, she explained, 1 of the most well-known occasions of the week was the speak given on Nov. eleven by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a Kenyan author and former going to Yale professor, who Markwei named one particular of the “pioneers of African literature.” Other occasions incorporated film screenings by popular African filmmakers and a discussion about the complicated identities of Africans in contrast to African-Americans.

Beyond highlighting African culture, yet another objective of the week was to facilitate conversation among the different African curiosity groups on campus, Markwei explained. Despite the fact that all the occasions had been planned and executed by YASA members, YASA invited other organizations to contribute as nicely. For illustration, the Nov. 15 discussion about African versus African-American identity was moderated by Patricia Okonta ’15, president of the Black Pupil Alliance at Yale.

“Through Africa Week, we were trying to connect the dots to Africa on this campus,” Markwei stated. “The question for me was, what had been the wants that we could meet on this campus, and what are the gaps in the conversation about Africa that we can have? We reached out to other groups of interest to see if they wished to contribute to the innovative process of coming up with that discussion.”

Okonta mentioned she was pleased to join in the celebrations, as she felt a private tie to the topics mentioned, in spite of not becoming straight involved in YASA.

As a very first-generation American from Nigerian parents, Okonta explained, she is aware of that Africa holds hope and a promising potential.

“The events YASA supplied all around Africa Week and throughout the whole school year demonstrate methods in which the continent of Africa and its individuals both in and outside the diaspora are thriving and excelling,” Okonta said in an e mail to the Information.

YASA members explained they hope that the discussions prompted by Africa Week will increase greater awareness of how considerably the research of African life has to offer you. In addition to acting as a “signpost” to advertise YASA and the occasions it hosts throughout the school year, Belo-Osagie stated, she needs students’ newfound awareness to prompt them to consider taking an African Research class.

Even inside the walls of the University, there is much space for growth in African Research, she extra, explaining that Yale does not supply as numerous assets as she would like in buy to totally engage in African concerns.

“Discussion on Africa is not as widespread as it need to be, given the place Africa is taking in the world and how virtually everyone has a stake in Africa,” Markwei explained. “We as African college students don’t feel like sufficient African diversity is represented in Yale’s African Studies Division. That’s a gap that Yale can fill when compared to other universities in the U.S.”

Nonetheless, Markwei also expressed hopes that Yale is moving in the proper route, and believes that Yale will make wonderful strides in the quite close to long term. Belo-Osagie explained she is glad the theme YASA chose for the week worked properly in conjunction with University President Peter Salovey’s recent initiative to extend academic ties with African institutions.

“We are so enthusiastic to be at Yale at a time like this, so that we can push the African frontier,” Markwei said. “I consider more of the results of Africa Week will be felt by individuals coming to Yale five years down the line. These are the beginnings of what I truly feel is a huge wave of interest in Africa. It’s an awesome time to be a part of it.”

The week concluded with a cultural demonstrate on Sunday.

Africa Week zooms in on culture, new possibilities