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" Palestinian women do
not represent only tradition. They may stand as symbols of
progress. But, it may be
argued, this does not allow women to escape the burden of
representing authentic
culture; it simply expands the parameters and contents of
authenticity"1
The signing of the
Declaration of Principles on Interim Self Government Arrangements
(the
"Oslo Agreement") by
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on 13
September 1993 heralded
the drawing of a new and potentially and self-determination. Yet
this event, symbolically
important as it undoubtedly was, also opened the way for a set of
complexities,
particularly as far as Palestinian women are concerned.
This paper will explore
some of the ways in which women have responded to change in the
post-Oslo period by
distinguishing between the ideal of what they are entitled to expect
in
a future Palestinian
state and the reality of their present lives. Taking into
consideration
how political
institutions represent the interests of women and how women are
working to
improve their own
status, I will argue that the transition from an ad-hoc,
non-governmental
women's movement into
formal participation in the embryonic government has been an
unsatisfactory process.
Palestinian society can
be defined in terms of contradictory trends, the first "traditional"
and
"religious" and the
second "secular" and "democratic". While an attachment to
traditional
practices does not
preclude the development of democracy, it has had a distorting
effect
on the emergence of a
modern polity. Rather than accommodating the diversity of social
experience, the system
has fallen prey to manipulation by powerful, conflicting interest.
Women, who tend to be
regarded as conservators of tradition, have been among the
principal victims.
The plight of
Palestinian women can also be viewed in terms of national liberation
discourse. Like their
Algerian counterparts in the 1950s and 60s, the Palestinian
liberation
movement "resisted
significant changes in personal values women were expected to
uphold. The
preoccupation with women's honor as part of the definition of a
respectable
wife was not
challenged…While the mobilization of women in the struggle was
needed; it
had to be reconciled
with the equally important task of cultural preservation. The result
were
contradictory
expectations of women, who were to take on new public tasks in the
struggle,
but without challenging
the old value systems or the roles they played in the personal
arena"2.
Analysts of the
Palestinian women's movement concur that women experienced
empowerment as a result
of their involvement in the Intifada. But although women from all
segments of the society
were mobilized to take part. Both spontaneously and by way of
political organization,
their gains were not able to be sustained. In the wake of the peace
process, Palestinian
women leaders "find themselves outside the male-dominated political
circles where official
policy regarding the future of autonomy in Gaza and the West bank is
being determined"3.
We can gain some inkling
of a vision for the future from the various statements by the
Palestinian leadership
over the years. The Declaration of Independence, for example,
asserts that Palestinian
will be entitled to pursue complete equality of rights. Governance
"will be based on
principles of social justice, equality and non-discrimination in
public
rights on frounds of
race, religion, colour or sex"; and the state is committed to the
"principles and purposes
of the United Nations, and to the Universal declaration of Human
Rights."4.
Under the terms of the
Declaration of Principles (DoP), the PLO agreed that the Palestinian
people will govern
themselves "according to democratic principles".
In the ensuing "Cairo
Agreement"5, the newly created Palestinian National Authority
(PNA)
promised to operate
within the framework of a draft Basic Law for the National Authority
in
the Transitional Period.
The Basic Law stipulates "39 fundamental rights and freedoms of
the Palestinian people,
and endorses adherence to various international covenants,
including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political
Rights"6.
It is supplemented by a bewildering array of laws left over from
previous
administrations: Jordanian, Egyptian and British Mandate law,
Israeli military
orders and, for civil
cases, shari'a (Islamic) law.
The Basic Law itself has
come under fire from Palestinian women's organizations who
criticize it for making
no mention of equality between men and women. Afraid of being
marginalized in any
future Palestinian entity, women's committees, the General Union of
Palestinian Women (GUPW),
human rights NGOs and others, in January 1994, formed an
umbrella group to
produce a "Women's Charter" which would be presented to the PNA for
inclusion in the
constitution. The document aimed at "cancelling out the laws that
discriminate against
women, guaranteeing the rights of women in the political, economic,
social and educational
spheres, and their equality in front of the law…(It) also demand(ed)
that the state of
Palestine comply with international women's laws"7.
Finally published in
August 1994, the Charter
is "telling circumspect on the crucial issues of family law and
personal status"8.
One reason for this omission was the continuing struggle between the
secular and Islamist
versions of a future state.
In January 1996, the
first Palestinian election, for an 88-seat Legislative
Council, took place in
the autonomous areas. The greatest problem, in the words of one
critic, is that "given
the male-dominated Palestinian cultural tradition, there is a sharp
lack
of women with the kind
of political and leadership skills needed to advance the women's
agenda"9. In
order to be included in this process, women's groups were again
galvanized
into activity.
Co-ordinating their
efforts was the Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), formed
in 1992 after protests
that women were not adequately represented in the various PLO
technical committees.
In 1995, the WATC implemented a project entitled "Palestinian
women and the electoral
process", with the objective of "improving women's abilities to
participate in public
life"10. Although the project had aimed at achieving 30 per
cent female
representation on the
Legislative Council and only five women (5.7 per cent) were elected,
the project was judged
to have been a success. It will be remembered, commented the
organizers, " for having
offered a combination of comprehensive, well-balanced and much
needed skills,
techniques and information that satisfied the participating women's
needs
and encouraged a number
of them to participate in the elections as candidates.11
Behind the struggle for
female representation at executive, legislative and judicial levels
of
the transitional
government lies the frequently grim reality of life for the majority
of
Palestinian women. One
example is the marriage age for girls in the Gaza Strip which, in
line with Egyptian law,
was set at 17. During the Intifada, because of school disruptions,
dire economic conditions
and parental anxiety about the honour of young unmarried
daughters, the marriage
age fell. A survey carried out in 1993 revealed that 37 per cent of
females in Gaza were
married before the age of 17.12
Education is another
area of concern. Although the Palestinian population has
traditionally
prided itself on a
devotion to educational achievement, for girls as well as boys, the
Intifada
had a disastrous effect
on standards. In the early 1990s, the illiteracy rate for women in
the
Gaza Strip stood at 27
per cent (compared with 21 per cent for men) and in the West Bank
at 32 per cent (compared
with 8 per cent for men) 13.
In the arena of
employment, women find themselves disadvantaged on several levels.
Firstly, according to
traditions, a woman's primary function is to be a wife and mother,
and
her space restricted to
the home. Despite economic pressures, resistance to the notion of
women having careers, or
even job outside the home, tends to linger.
According to a study of
women working in the manufacturing sector in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, 85 per cent
of the employed women were unmarried, a pattern which is
repeated throughout the
Palestinian female labour force.14
Secondly, when forced by
circumstances to seek outside employment, women often have
to take poorly paid jobs
with few or no rights. They generally do not enjoy the benefit of
trade
union protection. A
recent survey found that"95.2 per cent of women do not participate
in
unions because they
have not heard of them or because offamily pressure against their
participation".15
The study of women in
the manufacturing sector revealed that, although most of the
managers are men,"today
manufacturing in the West Bank and Gaza strip depends
mainly on a female
workforce".16
The women studied "live
under constant fear of unemployment …(which is) the outcome of
the worsening economic
situation and weak trade unions. This situation is itself…partly the
result of PLO
policies".17
Thirdly, despite holding
jobs outside the home, women retain sole responsibility for
housework and child
care. A study carried out in the Jalazon refugee camp indicates that
" the main reason(s) for
lack of widespread participation of women in the labor market…are
the family conditions
and the traditional division of labor between men and women, which
is subject to the
ideology and social values of male domination, which in turn force
women
to withdraw to the home
and leave men free for outside work".18
On of the most troubling
problems that women must confront lies in the realm of violence.
Although they have long
endured the brutality of the Israeli occupation and have suffered
the painful effects of
national poverty and deprivation, Palestinian women-like men-have
been sustained by the
hope of eventual liberation. The subject of domestic violence, on
the
other hand, is seldom
discussed in public. However, even in this taboo area, women are
now starting to make a
breakthrough. For instance, the Women's Center for Legal Aid and
Conselling has been set
up in the West Bank to advise women on their rights under Islamic
Law in matters such as
marriage, divorce and the custody of children; the extreme
conditions of the Intifada left little room for the observance of such rights and male
community leaders took
advantage of the situation to impose their own notion of social
order.
In the Gaza strip in
1995, the Women's Empowerment Project was created; it runs
vocational and
counselling courses for women victims of violence. But real
protection for
women, in the opinion
of its director Shadi Sarraj, needs the support of the Palestinian
Authority,"
especially in education and law".19
Nevertheless, Palestinian women are
refusing to accept this generally dismal state of affairs without a
fight. From the elite women's political
groupings in urban centers to grassroots organizations in local
mosques, women across the country
are pushing for greater participation in their society. They are doing this on their own
terms and these vary considerably. I would like to conclude by
briefly examining some of the
sources from which they derive inspiration.
First of all, they
retain their faith in education as a tool for empowerment. Women
forced to
leave school early in
order to get married or help in the family home, are determined
that
their daughters will not
suffer a similar fate. Some women are seeking to acquire extra
skills
Although
"vocational and technical training facilities tend to teach women
skills in
traditionally feminine
areas, such as sewing, typing and hairdressing… as economic
opportunities expand, it
is essential that women have access to diversified vocational and
technical training to
ensure that they can be equally qualified in comparison to men, for
employment in labor
markets".20
A handful of female
entrepreneurs has also emerged. In recent years, women have
acquired loans from UNRWA, the GUPW and other women's NGO's , to promote the
creation os small
business enterprises for women as well as income-generating
activities…
Findings showed that
these projects have had an important impact on the social and
economic development of
women by enhancing their self-esteem and allowing them to
gain experience".21
Lastly, in the absence
of a state, Palestinian women look to international human rights
provisions to afford
them a measure of protection. Although not binding on the
Palestinian
Authority, the Beijing
Platform for Action provides a standard by which progress for
women, in terms of
female poverty, access to education and health care services,
violence
against women,
inequality between men and women in the spheres of economic and
political power and the
protection of women's reproductive rights, can be measured.22
In the period of partial
autonomy, women have appealed to international legislation to
protect their rights.
For example, in November 1994, two women reported to the WATC
that they had been
prevented from applying for passports unless they had the signatures
of
male "guardians". In
response to the WATC's insistence that "such a regulation is a
violation of the
Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the Universal Declaration
of the
human rights, and the
Convention of Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against
Women(CEDAW)";23
the Ministry of the Interior, in January 1995, decreed that
signatures
from male "guardians"
would no longer be necessary.
For women in Palestine
in 1997, there is still a long way to go. Their lack of legal rights
is a
matter for concern but
is unlikely to be satisfactory resolved until a state exists. The
matter
of inadequate education
for girls is being addressed and, in the area of employment too,
Palestinian culture is
undergoing changes that will better reflect female aspirations. As a
result, women's
self-confidence is increasing. One would hope that governmental
institutions are capable
of moving beyond the present unrepresentative phase and seeing
the necessity of
developing a greater sensitivity towards women's needs. They should
strive to overcome the
brutalities of colonization in order to create a more genuinely
egalitarian society. As
for dissension among the ranks of women themselves, the debate is
underway. But the
challenges are formidable, not least in the absence of a
comprehensive
peace settlement, and we
should not anticipate an early closing of the gap between ideal
and reality.
Notes
1- Julie M Peteet,
"Authenticity and gender: the presentation of culture", in Judith E
Tucker,
editor, Arab women: old
boundaries, new frontiers, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana
University Press
(published in association with the center for Contemporary Arab
Studies,
georgetown University),
1993, p.60
2- Mervat Hatem, "Toward
the development of post-Islamist and post-nationalist feminist
discourses in the Middle
East", in Tucker, editor, Arab women:old bounadries, new
frontiers, ibid.,
pp.42-3
3- Nancy Shalal, " Women
leaders sceptical about elections and civic policies" Jerusalam
Times, 10 November 1995
4- Palestine National
Council, " Pelstinian Declaration of independence", Algiers, 15
November 1998, Journal
of Palestine Studies, vol XVIII, no 2, Winter 1989, p.215
5- The Israel-PLO
Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area, 4 May 1994
6- Graham Usher,
Palestine in crisis: The struggle for peace and political
independence
after Oslo, London:
Pluto Press, in association with Transnational Institute (TNI) and
Middle
East Research &
Information Project (MERIP), 1995, P.45
7- Musa Rimawi, "
Palestinian women activists draft an equal rights document",
Jerusalem Times, 1 July
1994
8- Graham Usher, "
Women, Islam and the law in Palestinian society", Middle East
International, 23
September 1994, p.17
9- Ghada Zughayyar,
director of the Jerusalem Center for Women, quoted in "Women
leaders call for unity"
by Stephanie Nolen, Pleastine Report, 8 march 1996, p.20
10- " Palestinian women
and the electoral process", Plaestinian Women's Network, Vol 1,
No 1, November 1995,
p.10
11- The Candidate
Training Project, The West Bank and Gaza, 14 April- 15 May 1995
12- Marianne Heiberg and
Geir Ovensen, " Palestinian society in Gaza, the West Bank and
Arab Jerusalem: a
survey of living conditions", Oslo:FAFO, 1993, p.23, quoted in
United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), report of the UNDP needs assessment
mission for Palestinian
women in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 10-19 January 1994,
p.10
13- UNDP report, ibid.,
p.37
14- " Exploitation of
Palestinian women in factories", findings of a report by the Women
Studies Center in
Jerusalem entitled" Employment of women in Palestinian enterprises
in
the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip", News from Within, March 1994, p.22
15- " Socio-economic
conditions of female wage labour in Palestinian factories",
preliminary study by S
Hindiyeh and A Ghazawneh, Women's Studies Center, June 1990,
quoted in UNDP report,
op.cit., p.71
16- "Exploitation of
Palestinian women in factories", op.cit., p.22
17- Ibid., p.22
18- "Some social effects
of the Intifada in Jalazon refugee camp: women, marriage, family",
research by Dr Majdi
Malki of Birzeit University, News from within, vol XI, no 6, June
1995,
p.20
19- Graham Usher, "
Palestinian women tackle domestic violence taboo", The Guardian, 1
March 1997
20- "Palestinian women:
the development challenge", Tanmiya, September 1995, p.6
21- ibid., pp.7-9
22- United Nations,
platform for action and the Beijing Declaration, Fourth World Conference on women,
Beijing, China, 4-15 September 1995
23- Marie Boecker
Pedersen, " Women on the lobby front", Jerusalem Times, 21 March
1997.
1-
Julie M Peteet," Authenticity and gender: the presentation of
culture", in Judith E Tucker,
editor, arab women: old
boundaries, new frontiers, Bloomington and Indianapoli Bloomington
University
Press (published in association with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Georgetown
University), 1993, p.60
2-Mervat Hatem," Toward the development of post-Islamist and
post-nationalist feminist
discourses in the Middle
East", in tucker, editor, Arab women: old boundaries, new
frontiers, ibid.,
pp.42-3
3-
Nancy Shalala, "Women leaders skeptical about elections and
civic policies",
Jerusalem Times,10
November 1995
4-
Palestine National Council," Palestinian Declaration of
Independence, Algiers, 15
November 1988, Journal
of Palestine Studies, vol XVIII, no 2, Winter 1989, p.215
5-
The Israel-PLO Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area,
4 May 1994
6-
Graham Usher, Palestine in crisis: The Struggle for peace and
political independence
after Oslo, London:
Pluto Press, in association with Transnational institute (TNI) and
Middle
East Research &
Information Project (MERIP), 1995, p.45
7-
Musa Rimawi," Palestinian women activities draft an equal
rights document", Jerusalem
Times, 1 July 1994
8-
Graham Usher," Women, Islam and the law in Palestinian
society", Middle East
International, 23
September 1994, p.17
9-
Ghada Zughayyar, director of the Jerusalem Center for Women,
quoted in "Women's
leaders call for unity"
by Stephanie Nolen, Palestine report, 8 March 1996, p.20
10-" Palestinian women
and the electoral process", Palestinian Women's Network, vol 1,
no 1, November 1995,
p.10
11-The Candidate
Training Project, the West Bank and Gaza, 14 April 1995- 15 May 1995
12-Marianne Heiberg and
Geir Ovensen," Palestinian society in Gaza, the West Bank and
Arab Jerusalem: a
survey of living conditions", Oslo: FAFO, 1993, p.23, quoted in
United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), report of the UNDP needs assessment mission
for Palestinian women in
the West Bank and the Gaza strip, 10-19 January 1994, p.10
13-UNDP report, ibid.,
p.37
14-" Exploitation of
Palestinian women in factories", findings of a report by the
Women's
Studies Center in
Jerusalem entitled"Employment of women in Palestinian enterprises
in
the West Bank and the
Gaza strip", News from Within, March 1994, p.22
15-"Socio-economic
conditions of female wage labour in Palestinian factories",
preliminary
study by S Hindiyeh and
A Ghazawneh, Women's Studies Centre, June 1990, quoted in
UNDP report, op.cit.,
p.71
16-"Exploitation of
Palestinian women in factories", op.cit., p22
17-ibid., p22
18-" some social effects
of the intifada in Jalazon refugee camp: women, marriage, family",
research by Dr Majdi
Malki of Beirzeit University, news from within, vol XI, no 6, June
1995,
p.20
19-Graham Usher,"
Palestinian women tackle domestic violence taboo", The Guardian, 1
March 1997
20-"Palestinian women:
the development challenge", Tanmiya, Sep 1995, p.6
21-ibid, pp.7-9
22-United Nations,
Platfrom for Action and the Beijing Declaration, Fourth World
Conference on Women,
Beijing, China, 4-15 September 1995
23-Marie Boecker
Pedersen, "Women on the lobby front", Jerusalem Times, 21
March 1997
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