An Egyptian women's rights group has rejected a proposal to intoduce women-only taxis in Alexandria.

The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights says the idea is a legal, religious and social setback, as well as a violation of international agreements against discrimination.

The organisation is also calling for the abolition of women-only carriages on the Cairo metro.

Amna Nousseir, a professor at al-Azhar University, told al-Masry al-Youm the proposal for segregated taxis "contradicts the nature of our Egyptian society where the woman is used to walking alongside the man without trouble".

The idea seems to have been copied from the Gulf in response to the harassment of women. Three years ago Dubai introduced taxis for women, children and families "pink roofs, pink seats and interiors, and other features to give the vehicles a feminine touch".

The trouble with projects like this, as I pointed out in connection with Dubai, is that they perpetuate gender-based discrimination and perhaps even reinforce it. Segregated transport for black people and white people would rightly be viewed as abhorrent. But if racial apartheid is unacceptable, why is gender apartheid OK?

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 11 January 2010.