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Quote:First, a few facts: Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox community receives substantial financial assistance fromthe state. Its religious day schools, which all Ultra-Orthodox children attend, segregated by sex, are heavily subsidized by the government, to the point where they are able to offer far more services than the regular public schools, such as hot lunches, transportation to and from school, and after-school programs. The community’s religious institutions are also supported by the state. And the young Ultra-Orthodox men and women are exempt from the military service that is required of all other young Jewish Israelis, on the grounds that, if male, their role is to study the Torah and, if female, military service would violate their religiously sanctioned traditional women’s role. All in all, ‘‘the culture of Ultra-Orthodoxy is . . . able to flourish, as it is given massive financial support by the government.’

Quote:In her 1999 essay, later expanded into an anthology, "Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?" Okin argues that a concern for the preservation of cultural diversity should not overshadow the discriminatory nature of gender roles in many traditional minority cultures, that, at the very least, "culture" should not be used as an excuse for rolling back the women's rights movement.