Female MKs to sit at front of Beit Shemesh 'mehadrin' bus

Knesset Committee for the Status of Women chairwoman Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) announced Wednesday that she will ride the "mehadrin" bus line 418 from Bet Shemesh to the capital, on a bus in which women are asked to sit in the back. "Mehadrin" lines are those used mostly by haredi [ultra-orthodox] passengers, in which women are asked to sit at the back of the bus, and sometimes even enter the bus only from its back door. It is illegal for bus companies to enforce this rule, but passengers may voluntarily sit according to gender. The MK, who identifies as National-Religious, recounted that as a university student, she often rode buses with haredi passengers. When she was asked to move to the back, Hotovely explained, she would say: "This is public transportation, and I can sit where I like."