Universities generally do not ban gender segregation at campus events, Times Higher Education has found.

91ÇÑ×Ó asked 163 UK higher education institutions whether they allow gender-segregated events. Of the 46 that responded, 29 do not have prohibitions in place and of these, 23 say they do not have a policy on gender segregation.

The findings come after Universities UK issued guidance suggesting that meeting religious figures¡¯ requests for gender-segregated seating with some audience partition would satisfy a ¡°balance of interests¡± for all parties.

Any speaker with a ¡°genuinely-held religious belief¡± who wants gender segregation for an event could have their freedom of speech ¡°curtailed unlawfully¡± if non-segregation were allowed, warns External Speakers in Higher Education Institutions, issued on 22?November.

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Of those universities that do not?ban gender segregation, the responses differ widely.

A spokesman for Cardiff University says it judges each event on a ¡°case-by-case basis¡±, while the University of Portsmouth says its students¡¯ union ¡°allows student groups choice over their event organisation and some segregated events have been held¡±.

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Nine institutions say they do not permit gender segregation, but a further eight explain that they ban it only if it is ¡°forced¡± or ¡°compulsory¡±.

University College London, which earlier this year banned the Islamic Education and Research Academy from its premises after it allegedly organised a segregated event, explains that the ¡°enforced¡± splitting-up of men and women, for example through pre-allocated seating, is ¡°unacceptable¡±.

But it adds: ¡°If individuals attending an event wish to segregate themselves on a voluntary basis, it is not acceptable for other members of the audience to compel them to mix, and to do so may constitute harassment.¡±

Flawed framework?

The UUK guidance has triggered scathing press criticism and the National Union of Students ¨C which initially backed the document ¨C later issued a statement saying that it would be ¡°concerned about enforced segregation and certainly does not endorse?it¡±.

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The British Humanist Association has also condemned what it has called an ¡°endorsement of gender segregation¡±. Pavan Dhaliwal, head of public affairs at the body, said that its president, Jim Al-Khalili, the broadcaster and University of Surrey physicist, had requested a meeting with UUK to discuss the issue.

She accused UUK of ¡°misinterpreting¡± equalities law, adding: ¡°It¡¯s advocating gender segregation and putting the beliefs of the speaker above the rights of the participants.¡±

However, Nicola Dandridge, UUK¡¯s chief executive, stressed to 91ÇÑ×Ó that the guidance was intended to clarify the legal framework rather than ¡°take a position on the rights or wrongs of requests to segregate an event by gender¡±.

A spokesman for UUK added that the 17 organisations that had helped to draft the report, including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the 91ÇÑ×Ó Office and four universities, had seen the guidance before publication.

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However, a 91ÇÑ×Ó Office spokesman said that it had not ¡°signed off¡± the guidance and a BIS spokeswoman ¨C when asked if the department had approved the document ¨C simply said that BIS was happy by Ms Dandridge, which says the report ¡°does not promote gender segregation¡±.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com