he argument for women from more restrictive cultures could be met by more of the mixed colleges providing guaranteed single-sex accommodation,
*nods*
We're essentially here talking about Muslim women. My understanding of the religion is that men and women should be provided with separate social facilities and shouldn't interact with one another except when necessary. To achieve this there would need to be provision of both female and male only accommodation and there would need to be rules about men [including the inhabitants relatives] entering the building/certain rooms. The last time I thought this through, I came to the conclusion that you'd need a building with kitchens + common room windows shielded so that you can't see the people inside from the outside. A gym/other exercise facility would need to be inside the building. Any gardens to to it would need to be fenced in. You'd also need a visitors area in one part of the buildings, separated by a door, to allow women to bring their mixed gender relatives in/have male students over eg. those on their course to do work together. The visitors area would need its own common room + kitchen and probably a series of private rooms for women to spend private time with their relatives. It'd also need telephone points, computers/ethernet access points. Once you've got a building that fulfils all these requirements, you can ban men from the main part of the building, only making exceptions for the beginning + end of term. But, at this point who is going to want to live in this building/the parallel men only building? It's one thing for someone to want to go to a women's only college, it's another to ask them to live in a building where they can't take male friends to their rooms.
I think the answer is for the university to provide such dedicated accommodation for the whole university for all that want it and leave the colleges out of it. Nothing in Islamic law prevents men and women mixing in lectures/tutorials/the library etc.
I'm puzzled by these requirements, because they weren't met by either of the women's colleges at Cambridge. So what is it about a women's college that makes it acceptable to Muslim women despite the fact that men are allowed in most of the time (exceptions being at night if they were unaccompanied, ISTR)?
Being an evangelical atheist, I'm also not sure that the university should be providing special facilities for people who don't want men around for religious reasons.
I got the impression that for some of the women at my college, Mummy and Daddy had only let them leave home to go among the heathens because they would be living in a women's college. The fact that the college didn't actually meet the strict requirements for avoiding meeting men "at home" was perhaps not communicated.
I think it's easier if you regard only your own room as being "home" and act outside it as you would in other public spaces. A bit difficult when the shower is across the corridor, but the newer accommodation had ensuite showers.
I understood parental consent to be part of the argument, yes.
I think things that get people into university despite parental suspicion are generally good, albeit in the sense that a plaster is good rather than the sense that not falling of your bike is good.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-07 10:04 pm (UTC)*nods*
We're essentially here talking about Muslim women. My understanding of the religion is that men and women should be provided with separate social facilities and shouldn't interact with one another except when necessary. To achieve this there would need to be provision of both female and male only accommodation and there would need to be rules about men [including the inhabitants relatives] entering the building/certain rooms. The last time I thought this through, I came to the conclusion that you'd need a building with kitchens + common room windows shielded so that you can't see the people inside from the outside. A gym/other exercise facility would need to be inside the building. Any gardens to to it would need to be fenced in. You'd also need a visitors area in one part of the buildings, separated by a door, to allow women to bring their mixed gender relatives in/have male students over eg. those on their course to do work together. The visitors area would need its own common room + kitchen and probably a series of private rooms for women to spend private time with their relatives. It'd also need telephone points, computers/ethernet access points. Once you've got a building that fulfils all these requirements, you can ban men from the main part of the building, only making exceptions for the beginning + end of term. But, at this point who is going to want to live in this building/the parallel men only building? It's one thing for someone to want to go to a women's only college, it's another to ask them to live in a building where they can't take male friends to their rooms.
I think the answer is for the university to provide such dedicated accommodation for the whole university for all that want it and leave the colleges out of it. Nothing in Islamic law prevents men and women mixing in lectures/tutorials/the library etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-07 10:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-08 07:38 pm (UTC)Being an evangelical atheist, I'm also not sure that the university should be providing special facilities for people who don't want men around for religious reasons.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-09 09:14 am (UTC)I think it's easier if you regard only your own room as being "home" and act outside it as you would in other public spaces. A bit difficult when the shower is across the corridor, but the newer accommodation had ensuite showers.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-09 10:44 am (UTC)I understood parental consent to be part of the argument, yes.
I think things that get people into university despite parental suspicion are generally good, albeit in the sense that a plaster is good rather than the sense that not falling of your bike is good.