Pillarisation (verzuiling in Dutch) is the politico-denominational segregation of a society. These societies were (and in some areas, still are) "vertically" divided into several segments or "pillars" (zuilen, singular: zuil) according to different religions or ideologies. The best-known examples of this are the Dutch and Belgian ones.These pillars all had their own social institutions: their own newspapers, broadcasting organisations, political parties, trade unions and farmers' associations, banks, schools, hospitals, universities, scouting organisations and sports clubs. Some companies even hired only personnel of a specific religion or ideology. This led to a situation where many people had no personal contact with people from another pillar.Austrian, Arab Iraq, French, Israeli, Italian, Lebanese, Maltese, Nigerian, Northern Irish, Scottish, Serbo-Croat Yugoslavian, Spanish and Taiwanese societies are or were other examples of this phenomenon.[citation needed].