Israeli parliament employees denied entry for ‘short skirts’

JERUSALEM – A few dozen Israeli lawmakers and their assistants protested outside the parliament building Wednesday after female staffers were denied entry for wearing skirts that were deemed too short.

At least 15 female legislative assistants were not allowed into the Knesset because of their dress, said Asaf Goldfarb of the Israeli legislative assistants’ union.

They had come to work wearing dresses and skirts — a couple of them quite short — to protest similar entry refusals that have taken place in recent weeks. Goldfarb said a Knesset representative told protesters that dresses in parliament must be no more than 5 centimetres (2 inches) above the knee.

“The concentration on what women are wearing is completely ridiculous,” said Liron Shalish, a legislative assistant, who was stopped at the entrance to the Knesset wearing a dress she said reached just above her knees — the same dress she wore to parliament a few months ago for her job interview.

Knesset spokesman Yotam Yakir said the parliament dress code forbids visitors and staffers from wearing torn clothing, shirts with political slogans, crop tops, sandals, shorts, and “too short skirts.” He says only “a few” female legislative assistants were asked to change their clothing on Wednesday and all were let into parliament by the afternoon.

He called the protest a “provocation,” saying the Knesset enforces its dress code equally with men and women, and that it was more relaxed than rules enforced at other parliaments around the world.

The Knesset administrative director met with representatives of the legislative assistants’ union Tuesday to discuss the dress code, but Yakir would not say if the Knesset was considering altering it.

A few dozen Israeli lawmakers and their assistants joined the banned staffers outside the parliament building in protest. Lawmaker Manuel Trajtenberg from a centre-left party protested by taking off his shirt, remaining in a sleeveless undershirt, as other protesters cheered.

“This is not the parliament in Iran,” said lawmaker Ilan Gilon, from a dovish party.

“Instead of measuring skirts, they should measure work ethics,” said Aida Touma-Suleiman of an Arab party.