Gender Segregation

Gender segregation is the separation of people according to their gender. In certain circumstances, gender segregation is a controversial policy, with violation of human rights, and necessary to maintain decency, sacredness, modesty, female safety, or the family unit.

Public facilities:

The places for activities which involve nudity - for example, toilets, showers, changing rooms - are usually segregated by according to the gender. There are exceptions for clothing-optional beaches and art classrooms for figure drawing are generally not segregated. Sweat rooms and baths may or may not be, depending on the culture.

The degree of segregation will vary. There are separate changing rooms for men and women in some places. However, a single change room with cubicles is normal. The widespread practice of eve teasing women in crowded public places in some countries have designated women-only passenger cars or compartments on trains.

Even prisons are also segregated. Often contact with prisoners of the opposite sex may be forbidden or limited to specific moments. Prison officers often are of the same sex as the inmates.

Sports:

Competitive sports are segregated by according to the gender, especially at higher levels. Here performance is strength-related and any alternative is excluded from the higher levels of women competition. A few sports, namely equestrianism, Korfball are mixed-gender at all levels.

Some sports that do not depend on physical contact, such as bowling or golf, may have separate sporting events. In athletics, though, it is normal for both sexes and all ages to shoot alongside each other: in a handicap tournament they will, in fact, be competing against each other.

Education:

Each educational institution was available only to boys, the last few hundred years. Education was made available to girls as well as boys especially in Europe. Sometimes, the reason was historical and all-male education institution refusing to change. Arguments were done in the presence of opposite sex. It distracts students from their studies, as well as inappropriate conduct.

There are studies conducted to analyze whether single-sex schools or co-ed schools produce better educational outcomes, but each has its advocates and critics. Even in co-ed schools, certain classes, such as sex education, are sometimes segregated on the basis of gender. Some schools decide to segregate students only in core subjects; this is called parallel education.

Female safety, privacy and sensitivity:

Some gender segregation occurs for reasons of safety. For example a safer place for 'mothers or wives' may refuse to admit men, even those who are themselves the victims of domestic violence and prevent access by those who might commit or threaten violence to women or because women who have been subjected to abuse by a male might feel threatened by the presence of any man.