Chareidi women are unable to take courses held by Amin Ltd.
as part of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Wisconsin
Program because secular men and women study together in the
same classes.
In recent years the Industry and Trade Ministry began running
the Wisconsin Program, designed to train the unemployed and
help them find jobs in different areas. Job seekers who
arrive at the ministry's Employment Bureau are referred to
Amin Ltd., which was contracted to operate the program, and
they must spend 30-40 hours per week at the company's job-
search center in order to qualify for Guaranteed Income
benefits.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni recently received complaints from
chareidi women saying the Employment Bureau sent them to take
courses where they discovered that secular men and women
study in mixed classrooms.
Many women enrolled in these courses worry that lodging a
complaint could disqualify them from receiving Guaranteed
Income benefits.
Rabbi Gafni sent a letter to Mrs. Dorit Novak, head of the
Wisconsin Program Authority at the Industry and Trade
Ministry, saying the course arrangements run counter to the
religious way of life and demanding separate classes for
chareidi women.
