Allow me to weigh in on this issue, Harvard got it right. First, this is a trial program. The point is to see if this works. Second, it is open to ALL women during these hours. I can understand why women might want to work out in a gym with just women. Third, it is 1 of only 15 gyms. Who is being hurt here? Harvard has enough gyms to have an all male gym an all female gym and 13 gyms where all our welcome. The accommodation being made here is minimal. If Harvard had ONE gym, then this would be a problem. However, with FIFTEEN gyms, its no big deal.
As for the arguments about food accommodations, first some schools (non-jewish) DO have kosher kitchens. As Jefferson told Abigail and myself last night Rochester has a completely Kosher deli. Even assuming no school but for Jewish ones did, there is a clear and stark difference here. The Harvard accommodation results in essentially no inconvenience for the school or the students. 6 hours a week the students choose from 1 of 14 gyms instead of 1 of 15. Big whoop. To maintain a kosher kitchen it must be, essentially, permanently converted into a kosher kitchen. It requires a great deal of extra cost. The food must blessed, the kitchen must be blessed, the staff needs to be specially trained. A lot of work, money and effort is required, and in the end a kitchen is permanently converted into a kosher kitchen (unless they wish to abandon the kosher kitchen at which point restarting it would result in high startup costs). On the other hand the gym can be converted back to a multi-sex gym in the amount of time it takes to say "men are now welcome" and then back into a women's only gym via the time and money it takes to say "men are no longer welcome."
The gym conversion here has no impact upon the students or such a small impact it is negligible and can be converted back and forth and no cost, in no time and with no effort. The kitchen must be converted at great expense and with great effort. If there are 14 other kitchens on campus, then it should be noted with little impact on the student body as well. Even if there aren't forcing kosher food upon people isn't that big of a deal anyway unless they really want pork or meat with dairy (and even that could be accomplished by simply making the students combine the two on their own). The basic point here is these two are not analgous. Once costs lots of money and results in inflexibility. The other doesn't. Oh, and this is a trial program, if only the 6 women use the gym or lots of people are put out by this then they can end it with that magic phrase "all are now welcome."
Abigail got this right and so did Harvard, sorry Paine.
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Enlightened Westerners properly decry the widespread mistreatment of women in the Islamic world. It is, therefore, surprising that the University is asking its student population to be respectful of Islamic women’s, frankly, medieval notions about men, especially when such notions deprive students of access to a University resource based solely on their gender.
Would a fair-minded person sense a double standard here? The question scarcely survives its statement.
Denying individuals equal access to a University resource based on the gender or race into which they were born cannot be justified by invoking terms such as “balancing interests” or de minimis harm. Harvard is heading down a slippery slope when it seeks to validate ANY gender discrimination in order to accommodate one cultural interest or another.
What's to stop the men from wanting exclusion for some resource or another? Nothing, under your criteria. Your veiled misandry is breathtaking.
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