When confronted with faith-based extremism and hate, religious apologists frequently insist that that isn't "real" religion and that extremists are taking things out of context. In the case of the Orthodox Jewish extremists in Israel who are so zealous in attacking the presence of women in public, it appears that their behavior follows directly from their religious ideology. The source of the problem lies right in ancient Jewish laws and traditions.
It's worth knowing that a woman is unfit to be a judge, and is also unfit to give testimony. She is unfit for any public position with authority. "Thou shalt appoint a king over thee" - a king and not a queen.
A daughter, commanded the sages, must not be taught Torah, because "the mind of woman is not suited to be taught, but [only] to words of nonsense." Women are light-minded and have little knowledge.
And if a man and a woman are drowning in a river, first they'll save the man, "who is obligated to perform more commandments," whereas a woman's "wisdom is only in the spindle." In fact, "words of Torah should be burned rather than being given to women."
A man must say three blessings every day during morning prayers: He thanks God "that He didn't make me a gentile, that He didn't make me a woman, that He didn't make me an ignoramus." And it's not proper to speak to a woman too much, since "all her conversation is nothing but words of adultery," and whoever talks to her too much "causes evil to himself and will end up inheriting hell." And let's not even talk about the fate of someone "who looks even at a woman's little finger."
Source: Haaretz
All of this sounds awfully familiar. Similar principles can be found in other religions too -- Islam, for example, comes immediately to mind when thinking about more extreme examples of women being oppressed through religion today.
Quite often these sorts of oppressive laws seem to be designed for the purpose of putting men on a pedestal, even though they are defended by men saying that women are the ones being protected. Well, these Jewish laws don't even try to maintain that pretense. No, they make it quite clear that the goal is make slaves out of women:
A husband would do well not to let his wife go outside, into the street, and should restrict her outings "to once or twice a month, as necessary, since a woman has no beauty except by sitting in the corner of her house."
Because inside the house - very deep inside - her glorious honor awaits her: "Every woman washes her husband's face and feet and pours him a cup and prepares his bed and stands and serves her husband. And any woman who refrains from doing any of these tasks that she is obligated to perform - is forced to do them." Some recommend forcing her with a whip or by starvation "until she gives in."
And needless to say, she is at her husband's disposal whenever he is overcome by a desire "to satisfy his urges with her." And if she continues to rebel, he always has the right "to divorce her without her consent."
Not all Jews follow all of these laws, which is great, but that doesn't change the fact that these laws do stem directly from Jewish religious texts and traditions. They aren't "un-Jewish". Someone who decides that these are awful or ridiculous and decides not to follow them is making a very moral choice, but they need to be able to admit that they are using an independent standard for judging religious laws and traditions. They need to be able to admit that their religion has some awful features to it that need to be abandoned in the modern world.
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