PALESTINE

Introduction

This report assesses the status of Palestinian women ten years after the Beijing Conference in the
context of a survey of the Palestinian Authority’s achievements in the critical areas of concern of
the Beijing Platform for Action. The report is the outcome of a joint cooperative effort on the
part of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and units concerned with issues of relevance for women
in various other ministries.

The preparation of this report comes at the time of a significant development in the history of
mechanisms for the advancement of Palestinian women, namely the creation of a Ministry of
Women’s Affairs within the current Palestinian Government as the main framework for the
Government’s ongoing commitment to the empowerment of women and the unification of efforts
directed toward that end, to quote from the new Ministry’s official mandate.

We hope that this report will contribute to a greater understanding of the economic, social and
political status of Palestinian women and will identify current obstacles to their advancement and
participation in the development process. We also hope that decision- makers will find it a useful
aid to adopting measures and policies aimed at bridging the gender gap.

Lastly, we wish to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to all our women colleagues in
units concerned with women’s issues in various ministries for their invaluable assistance in
providing us with data and reports on their respective ministries’ activities in this area.

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Part I

No discussion or review of the Palestinian National Authority’s achievements in the sphere of

the promotion of equality between men and women can be meaningful in the absence of a
discussion of the occupation and its effects on Palestinian society in general and on Palestinian
women in particular. In the first place, the context in which the process is taking place cannot be
adequately understood otherwise, and in the second place, the occupation is severely injurious to
the Palestinian Authority and its institutions that are working for the empowerment of women
and gender equality.

Palestinian lands continue to be under Israeli occupation to this day. The occupiers have striven
for the past five decades and continue to strive to destroy the economic and social structure of
the Palestinian people, keep them under the control of the State of Israel and annihilate their
dream of freedom and independence and the establishment of an independent State in their own
Palestinian land. The Al- Aqsa intifada broke out in 2000, in a context of political asphyxiation in
the region resulting from the Government of Israel’s failure to fulfil the obligations it had
assumed under the 1994 Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel.
Those Accords had provided for a transitional period that would end five years after the date of
signing, but Israeli policies and actions on the ground showed that the Israelis had no real
intention of working for peace.

As is well known, it is women who suffer most in conflict situations, and their suffering is
intensified under such conditions as these. Mothers, sisters and wives have been bereft, women
have been killed, wounded and arrested, and it is difficult for any investigation or report,
however long, to reflect adequately the pain and suffering that these women have had to endure.
No research methods can adequately depict a mother grieving over her son, a sister over her
brother, or a wife over her husband, nor it is possible to portray all the economic, educational and
environmental harm that has been inflicted upon Palestinian women, or the deterioration in their
health conditions.

Israeli actions since the outbreak of the Al- Aqsa intifada have resulted in economic and
educational deterioration and declining health conditions for Palestinian society in general and
for women in particular. Reports indicate a marked increase in the prevalence of poverty and
unemployment. Whereas a 1998 report on poverty found that the incidence of poverty in the
Palestinian territories was 23 per cent, a special United Nations report issued in 2003 revealed
that approximately 60 per cent of the Palestinian people were living below the poverty line, a
figure that suggests an imminent collapse in Palestinian society. Israeli actions have also affected
the educational process: girls have been unable to continue to the intermediate level, and have
thus been denied their right to education. In addition, Israel’s actions have had an adverse impact
on health conditions in general and the health conditions of Palestinian women in particular:
statistical reports show that there have been dozens of cases of women giving birth at roadblocks,
and many instances of newborn babies who have died there. These reports also reveal that
perinatal care available to women has deteriorated.

Much of Israel’s escalation of its repressive actions against the Palestinian people has targeted
their natural reaction of defending Palestinian land and Palestinian individuals, availing

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themselves of their lawful right to resist occupation in order to realize their legitimate aspiration
to freedom and independence. In 1997 there were five women out of a total of 500 Palestinian
detainees; today there are 79 Palestinian women in Israeli prisons, of whom approximately six
per cent are under the age of 18, i.e., by international standards, children. Women also account
for six per cent of the 2925 Palestinian martyrs who had been killed since the outbreak of the Al-
Aqsa intifada as of 29 February 2004. As a result of the marked increase in the numbers of
martyrs and detainees, there has been a corresponding increase in the percentage of families
headed by women. Those families are in need of concern and a policy of intervention to prevent
them from falling into poverty.

The Palestinian National Authority’s political and legal commitment to the promotion of
equality

The Declaration of Independence contains a clear and unambiguous reference to equality

between men and women in rights and duties and to non-discrimination on grounds of race,
origin or religion; all are equal before the law. Similarly, the Basic Law contains provisions
stating unequivocally that there shall be no discrimination between men and women in rights and
duties. Other laws governing the work of various institutions, such as the Labour Law, the
Agriculture Law, the Law on Children and others, also contain explicit provisions on equality
between men and women.

In addition, many Palestinian Government ministers, both in the present Government and in
previous Governments, have stated their commitment to and support for action to promote
equality between men and women, both internally, within their respective ministries, and
externally, in the sense that women and men are deemed to be equally eligible for the services
delivered by their various institutions. This commitment, however, has not been translated into
practical action plans implemented by the institutions in question in the context of specific
budget allocations. This weakness in giving effect to provisions of the law is attributable partly
to the political, economic and social conditions in which Palestinian society lives and partly to
inadequate follow-up and evaluation arrangements.

The women’s movement, with its various sectors, has not stood idly by; it has worked
consistently on behalf of adoption of the principle of gender equality as an essential principle in
Palestinian society. The women’s movement was instrumental in the formation of an
Interministerial Coordination Committee on the Advancement of Women (ICC), made up of
members from the various departments and committees with responsibility for women’s affairs
within various ministries, with a mandate to integrate a gender perspective into those ministries’
policies, plans and programmes. In this context, the Ministry of Planning’s General Directorate
for the Planning and Development of Women’s Participation, which is represented on the ICC,
has launched a pioneering experiment aimed at integrating a gender perspective in the policies,
plans and programmes of several ministries of the Palestinian Authority (Local Governance,
Labour, Agriculture and Social Affairs). The Ministry of Education and Higher Education and
the Ministry of Health have also adopted measures aimed at promoting gender equality.

The ICC has worked in cooperation and partnership with the General Federation of Palestinian
Women, representing non-governmental institutions, to prepare a National Strategy for the

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Advancement of Palestinian Women in 1997. The Strategy identified a number of objectives in
various fields, including political action, the economy, social action, law, the environment and
the media.

The period 1995-2000 was one of comparative quiet and stability, and this afforded an
opportunity of making progress in the various areas of action identified in the National Strategy,
despite the persistence of many difficulties that prevented the gender gap in Palestinian society
from being bridged.

In 1996, Palestinians held their first legislative elections to choose the President of the
Palestinian National Authority and members of the Legislative Council. Of the 672 candidates
competing for the 88 seats on the Council, 28 were women, and five women were elected. Ms.
Samiha Khalil stood as a candidate for President of the Palestinian National Authority, an
initiative without precedent in the Arab world.

The Legislative Council proceeded to draft and enact legislation governing the life of Palestinian
society. The ICC was closely involved with this important aspect of the growth and evolution of
the socio-economic situation of Palestinian society. The Legislative Council established a
Women’s Directorate, which played a prominent role in formulating comments on the various
draft laws, working in close coordina tion and cooperation with units with responsibility for
women’s affairs in various ministries and with non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The General Directorate for the Planning and Development of Women’s Participation also
played a role in reviewing the laws governing the work of executive bodies, including the Labour
Law, the Agriculture Law, the Environment Law, the Electoral Law, the Basic Law, the Family
Code and the Criminal Code. The General Directorate organized or participated in a number of
specialized workshops attended by representatives of relevant governmental and community
institutions with a view to suggesting amendments and making recommendations to the bodies
concerned.

This period was accompanied by a change in the health and educational status of Palestinian
women. As regards the former, reproductive health services became more readily available and
were integrated into primary health care services, while a five-year strategy on women’s health
(1999-2003) was developed. As regards the latter, the educational process in general, and
women’s education in particular, evolved markedly at this time, with primary school attendance
rising and dropout rates declining. The Ministry of Education took a number of actions,
beginning with the Education Law, which provided unequivocally that boys and girls were to be
treated on an equal and adequate footing. The Ministry also reviewed the five-year plan from a
gender perspective and confirmed that it was concerned to bridge gender gaps in all areas and at
all levels.

The Ministry is also preparing to launch vocational and technical training programmes, joining
forces with the General Directorate for the Planning and Development of Women’s Participation
in a pioneering experimental initiative. A non-traditional computer maintenance training
programme for women is already available in the city of Hebron, and computer education has
been integrated into Ministry of Education programmes. In another noteworthy action, the

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Ministry has issued regulations allowing married women to take courses to complete their formal
education.

With the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa intifada in 2002, the occupying Israelis took repressive
measures against the Palestinian people, killing and arresting men and women alike. They also
reoccupied areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, sealed off the cities, and
turned the Palestinian territories into a series of isolated enclaves cut off from each other.
Crowning this series of repressive measures was the construction of the apartheid wall,
confiscating large areas of Palestinian land for the purpose, with the result that many Palestinian
families have lost their means of livelihood and their source of food. Another result that many
Palestinian villages have been walled in, with special gates for going in and out, and many
Palestinian families have been forced to leave. We should like to discuss the impact of the wall
on Palestinian life, but that is not to our present purpose, so we are simply attaching a
documentary film that vividly portrays the suffering the wall is inflicting on women and the
impact it is having on their economic and social conditions (see attached documentary film).

These measures have resulted in deteriorating economic and social conditions for the Palestinian
people: unemployment has soared, the prevalence of poverty has increased markedly, education
has been disrupted, and health conditions are worsening, as the health care delivery system
cannot provide patients, be they men or women, with services. Pregnant women are not receiving
the care they receive during pregnancy and after delivery. There have been many cases of
women giving birth at roadblocks, and there is a high incidence of anaemia among women
between the ages of 19 and 49. Children are suffering from anaemia as well, with adverse
consequences for their height and weight.

As a result of these recent conditions under which Palestinians now live, both men and women
are at risk of being targeted by Israeli repressive actions. Accordingly, the Palestinian National
Authority has prepared emergency plans for dealing with various social or economic crises.
These plans take the needs of men and women equally into account. For example, the emergency
employment strategy contains provisions for making jobs available to women, while the Ministry
of Education’s emergency plans for keeping the educational process going specifies that male
and female pupils shall benefit equally. The Ministry of Social Affairs, for its part, has developed
programmes for the distribution of assistance in cash and in kind.

The Palestinian National Authority has thus been confronted with many difficulties in preparing
its strategies and plans for Palestinian social development. Even so, there have been many
success stories in the critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action. These
will be presented in Part II of this report.

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Part II

In this part we shall review the main achievements in implementing the critical areas of concern
of the Beijing Platform for Action, and also the obstacles to bridging gender gaps in various
areas.

• Women, political participation and decision-making

Participation by women in political activity and decision- making is one of the main themes of
the National Strategy for the Advancement of Palestinian Women. The objective is to strengthen
democratic life in civil society institutions and provide women with equal opportunities for
participation in the building of Palestinian society side by side with men in all areas and at all
levels.

The Strategy identifies three aspects of concern relating to participation by women in political
life: in general, the national role to be played by Palestinian women in enabling the Palestinian
people to win their rights to independence, freedom and the establishment of an independent
State; Palestinian refugee women as an area of concern that must be addressed; and participation
by Palestinian women in decision- making at various levels.

1. Participation by women in the national struggle

Palestinian women have participated side by side with men and have made sacrifices for the goal
of enabling the Palestinian people to win its rights to freedom and independence. We shall try to
quantify their efforts, but no figures can conceivably do justice to the contribution and sacrifices
of Palestinian women.

Official statistics from 1997 indicate that in that year there were five women detainees in Israeli
prisons, compared to 500 men, and women accounted for 9 per cent of all persons wounded
between 1987 and 1996 and 7 per cent of all those martyred during those years.

With the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, the Palestinian people, men and
women alike, entered a new stage of continuing, incessant sacrifice in confronting the aggression
and arrogance of the Israeli occupation. Thousands of martyrs have fallen, thousands more have
been wounded, and the occupiers have deliberately destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian
economy and violated the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people.

From the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada to February 2004, approximately 2925 Palestinians
had been martyred, approximately 6.1 per cent of them women. It is noteworthy that this is a
larger percentage than was observed during the first intifada: an average of one woman was
martyred every month during the first intifada, while during the Al-Aqsa intifada there have been
an average of five women martyrs every month.

There has also been a perceptible increase in the numbers of women detainees in Israeli prisons
during the Al-Aqsa intifada: Ministry of Family Affairs data indicate that there are 79 women
being held in Israeli prisons, including 13 mothers with a total of 63 children, some of whom

6
have had to go into orphanages. Two wome n have given birth in prison, and their children are
living there under unsuitable conditions.

Women have thus contributed directly to the struggle and made heavy sacrifices, but women
have also contributed and made sacrifices indirectly. Many a mother ha s lost her son, many a
wife her husband, many a sister her brother; many women are caring for wounded family
members, and many woman have family members who are in prison. Israeli repressive measures
have severely affected women, compelling them to give birth at roadblocks and preventing them
from receiving medical care during pregnancy and after giving birth. Reports indicate that there
have been 100 women who have given birth at roadblocks, and 13 of them, and 33 newborn
babies, have died as a result. No words can express the sacrifice that these women have made;
we cannot give them their due. It is impossible to convey the state of shock felt by the
Palestinian people in general, and by Palestinian women in particular, as a result of these losses.

2. Women in decision-making posts

• Participation by women in leadership structures: women account for 7.5 per cent of the
membership of the Palestinian National Council, which has 56 women members out of a total of
744. The Palestinian Central Council includes five women members, out of a total membership
of 124. There are no women members on the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive
committee, which is the most important Palestinian national decision- making body.

• Membership of the Legislative Council: One woman stood as a candidate for election to
the office of President, and 28 women stood as candidates for election to the Legislative Council,
out of a total of 672 candidates in all. Five of them were elected and now occupy seats on the 88-
member Council.

• Participation in the executive power: during the history of the Palestinian National
Authority, we find that in recent years, the proportion of women members of the Council of
Ministers has never exceeded 8.7 per cent at most. In 1996, two women were appointed to the
posts of Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Higher Education, one of whom resigned
shortly thereafter. Between 2000 and 2002 there were a number of ministerial appointments,
none of them women. In the present Government there are two women ministers out of 26
ministers in all, which means that women account for 7.7 per cent of the total.

It appears from these figures that most senior posts within the Palestinian National Authority are
held by men, while women are concentrated in the administrative functions that constitute the
lower rungs of the ladder. This is confirmed by the fact that of 240 directors-general in 15
ministries, no more than 30, or 12.5 per cent, are women. In addition, women represent 15 per
cent of the Authority’s directors and 35 per cent of its division chiefs.

The Ministry of Higher Education has a better record than most in terms of action to enable
women to rise to senior positions. It now has a woman assistant deputy minister, a woman
Director-General for Planning, two women advisors, a woman director and a woman assistant
director.

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• Participation in local councils : Participation by women in local and municipal councils is
still very limited, as women account for no more than two per cent of the members of such
bodies in the Palestinian territories. The Ministry of Local Governance appoints the members of
local and municipal councils; they are not elected. In this connection it is noteworthy that the
Ministry has recently decided to appoint one woman member to each local and municipal
council. Owing to circumstances and the reality of the Palestinian situation, however, it has not
been possible for the women’s movement to take advantage of this decision to increase the
numbers of women members. Many council heads are averse to the idea of a woman member,
but while some have overtly objected, others have agreed to the presence of one woman member
in the hope of obtaining support for the council while not allowing the woman member to play a
meaningful role. In some of these cases, the women members have been able to gain acceptance
and win the confidence of local residents.

• Palestinian women in political parties: There are still comparatively few women in
leadership posts in Palestinian political parties. The latest figures available (from 2001) indicate
that between 5 per cent and 20 per cent of these posts are held by women. The Democratic Front
leads, with 20 per cent of the posts in its Central Committee held by women, followed by Fida
with 19 per cent. The corresponding figure for the Popular Front is 10 per cent, while in the
Fatah movement, which is numerically the largest and the most influential party on the
Palestinian political scene, women hold five per cent of the leadership posts.

• Women in the judiciary: Women still hold only a minor position in the judiciary. Figures
from 2002 indicate that no more than seven per cent of all judges are women, and of 69 public
prosecutors, only one is a woman. Twelve per cent of Palestine’s 1727 lawyers are women.

Obstacles to women’s participation in political life and decision-making

• Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories, in disregard of international

instruments enshrining the right of peoples to freedom and independence, and the resultant
unstable political, social and economic conditions in which Palestinian society lives. The
national issue takes precedence over other social issues;

• The socio-cultural heritage, which has been and continues to be a limiting factor on women’s
participation in political life, owing to stereotyping of men’s and women’s roles in society. As a
result, we find that relatively few women are involved with planning and policy- making in
Palestinian institutions;

• Women are not extensively represented in political parties, especially at the executive level.
They do, however, account for a large proportion of the parties’ popular bases;

• Negative attitudes on the part of society in general, and an important group such as young
people in particular, toward participation by women in political life and decision-making;

• Absence of active political commitment on the part of decision- makers in the Palestinian
Authority to bridging the gender gap in the area of political life and decision- making in

8
Palestinian society. Official rhetoric in favour of equality and equal opportunity is not reflected
in practice;

• The fact that the vital forces of the women’s movement are dispersed, and the absence of a
working framework within which the efforts and potential of all concerned could be brought to
bear on the task of empowering women and promoting their advancement in society. The
National Strategy for the Advancement of Women has not given rise to effective implementation
mechanisms with clearly defined roles and responsibilities assigned to various institutions.
Recommendations for reinforcing women’s participation in political life and decision-
making

• Action to develop the women’s movement as a social movement with political content;

• More extensive participation by women and consolidation of their role in political parties, not
only at the level of grassroots supporting action but in the form of representation at the
various decision- making levels within the party structure;

• Action to alter the stereotyped image of women and to change the attitudes and behaviour of
individuals in society, both men and women, toward women’s issues, including in particular
their participation in political life and decision- making;

• Action to increase the numbers of women in decision- making posts through proportional
representation and a quota law;

• Action to prepare young women cadres with the capacities and skills to enter legislative
institutions, including the Legislative Council, municipal councils and village councils;

• Particular attention to wo men members of municipal and local councils and action to provide
them with support.

Women and economic life (poverty and employment)

1. Women and employment

Relatively few Palestinian women are active in the labour market compared to their counterparts
in other States in the region and in other parts of the world. Their labour market participation is
affected by Israeli actions such as closures and the confiscation and bulldozing of land, to say
nothing of the structural deformation of the Palestinian economy and social conditions that
restrict participation by women in various economic activities.

In recent years, there has been a perceptible decline in the labour market participation rate for
women, from 12.7 per cent in 2000 to 10.4 per cent in 2002, owing to the fact that Israel
regularly seals off all areas, making it difficult for Palestinians in general, and women in
particular, to move from place to place.

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Even so, there have been various efforts to foster participation by women in the labour market
and economic life and to make it easier for them to enter the labour force. The Labour Law,
enacted in 2000, enshrines the principle of non-discrimination between men and women as
regards employment. Many of the provisions of the Law refer to women’s right to work, and
there is a special section devoted to the employment of women and employers’ obligation to
provide them with suitable working conditions. The Ministry of Labour has issued regulations
implementing the Labour Law, and those regulations cover the employment of women and
include provisions for monitoring and enforcement.

The Ministry also developed a National Employment Strategy for the period 2000-2004, which
was designed to ease unemployment and stimulate job creation for both men and women. The
Strategy included greater labour force participation by women as an objective and stated
explicitly that the necessary action should be taken to attain that objective.

The Ministry of Labour is currently in the process of implementing a project fo r a Palestinian

Fund for Employment and Social Protection, the aim of which is to provide more job
opportunities for men and women alike.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Agriculture have joined forces to
execute various programmes and projects in the area of women’s employment which have
enabled more women to find jobs in villages and marginalized regions.

Main indicators in the area of labour force participation by women

• Economically active women account for 10.4 per cent of all women of working age, while
the labour force participation rate for men is 67.4 per cent;

• 57 per cent of all women in the labour force are married, and the highest participation rate for
married women is observed in the 35-44 age group;

• 54.2 per cent of women in the labour force are employed in the service sector (education,
health and other governmental functions), compared to 31.9 per cent for men, according to
statistics for 2002;

• 30 per cent of all working women are found in the agriculture sector, whereas the
corresponding figure for men is 11.9 per cent;

• Approximately 15 per cent of all working women are employed in trade and manufacturing,
compared to 46 per cent for men. It should be noted, however, that most women employed in
these sectors have administrative or office jobs;

• In the West Bank, 11.3 per cent of all working women are self-employed, compared to 36.5
per cent in the case of men, while the corresponding figures for the Gaza Strip are 3.6 per
cent for women and 29.7 per cent for men.

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• The average daily wage for men is 78.1 shekels, compared to 63.1 shekels for women, i.e.
women earn 80.7 per cent of what men earn;

• Unemployment rates are 17.1 per cent for women and 33.5 per cent for men.

Difficulties and challenges facing greater labour force participation by women

1. The continuing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and Israel’s actions, such as
closures and confiscation of land, aimed at crippling the Palestinian economy and annexing it to
the Israeli economy;

2. The lack of support services for working women, such as day care centres, in the context of
the high fertility levels that characterize the Palestinian territories;

3. The structure of the Palestinian economy, based as it is on small-scale individual enterprises

that provide few jobs and lacking capital and skills relating to the production process;

4. Socio-cultural conditions in which women’s sphere of work is regarded as being related

essentially to their childbearing role.

Recommendations :

• Action, to be undertaken jointly with persons of good will throughout the world, to secure the
implementation of international resolutions calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of the
Palestinian territories;

• Action to provide support services that will make it easier for women to go out to work;

• Support for the education of girls and women in the expectation that more education will
help women enter the work force and mitigate other constraints such as high fertility
resulting from early marriage;

• Action to provide support and training aimed at enabling women to become economically
active either as wage earners or by starting their own businesses, with particular attention to
educated unemployed women;

• Action to enhance society’s awareness of the importance of women’s work as a means to

more satisfactory economic circumstances for their families in particular and for society at
large in general.

2. Women and poverty

The phenomenon of poverty tends to affect women more than men. The “feminization of
poverty” is something that occurs not only at the national level but at the regional and global
levels as well, and it shows how easily women can fall into poverty for many reasons, including
lack of access to and control of resources.

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An understanding of the phenomenon of poverty in general, and poverty among women in
particular, must necessarily begin with an understanding of the Palestinian people’s political and
historical living conditions, characterized as they are by a process of uprooting, expulsion and
the confiscation of their land. It was against this background that the National Poverty
Eradication Commission was established, with a membership consisting of representatives of a
number of governmental, community and developmental bodies. In 1998 the Commission
produced an initial report presenting a comprehensive survey of poverty in Palestine (the
Palestine Poverty Report), which has served as a basis for formulation of policies and plans
designed to address the phenomenon. The report found that in 1998 the incidence of poverty in
Palestine was 23 per cent, but by 2003, according to World Bank reports, it had increased to 60
per cent. The Palestine Poverty Report found that eight per cent of Palestinian families were
headed by women, but, again, by 2003 the figure had risen to 9.8 per cent. The results indicate
that poverty is more prevalent among families headed by women than among families headed by
men.

An interministerial anti-poverty committee has also been established, with its members drawn
from various ministries in the Palestinian National Authority; its aim is to develop a strategy and
formulate policies to eliminate the phenomenon of poverty.

The Ministry of Planning, with support from the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), has adopted a policy assessment project under a participatory arrangement aimed at
providing people living in poverty with an opportunity of discussing their situation and making
their voices and views known to decision- makers and policy- makers. Phase I of the project has
been implemented, and a report on poverty has been published. Phase II, which is currently in
preparation, is aimed at the formulation of a national poverty elimination strategy.

Policies aimed at addressing poverty in general and poverty among wome n in particular

The Ministry of Social Affairs is the main governmental agency with a mandate to alleviate
poverty by providing poverty-stricken families with assistance in cash and in kind. Women
account for more than half of all recipients of such assis tance. The Ministry also offers training
courses aimed at helping beneficiaries of these programmes become more employable.

The Ministry of Labour also delivers emergency employment programmes as a means of

combating rising unemployment. However, very few women have been able to take advantage of
these programmes, most of which involve infrastructure construction.

Anti-poverty efforts have tended to focus on relief rather than development. Furthermore, the
criteria used by the Ministry of Social Affairs in determining eligibility for assistance do not
allow for altered circumstances and the advent of newly impoverished groups who require
assistance.

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Main indicators in the area of poverty among women

• In 2003, 9.8 per cent of all Palestinian families were headed by women, compared to 8 per
cent in 1998;

• 30 per cent of all families headed by women were in poverty;

• Families headed by women were afflicted by poverty more frequently than families headed
by men;

• 10.4 per cent of Palestinian women were in the work force.

• Women are paid, on average, 67 per cent of what men are paid;

• Unemployment among women is now running at 20.7 per cent;

• More than half of all working women have jobs in the service sector.

Recommendations :

• As an essential matter, development of a national strategy to address the phenomenon of

poverty in general and poverty among women in particular;

• Attention to the education of girls, inasmuch as education is directly linked to labour force
participation and hence, conversely, with poverty;

• Action to promote labour force participation by women, since a job is something that has a
positive impact on income and can provide poverty-stricken families with a life of dignity;

• More extensive vocational training programmes for women;

• A review of the social support policies administered by the Ministry of Social Affairs;

• Action to lighten poor women’s debts for basic services such as water and electricity.

Women and health

With the advent of the Palestinian National Authority, the Ministry of Health assumed
responsibility for oversight of the health care system, which during the years of occupation had
been characterized by neglect and inadequate services. Now a number of agencies became
involved in health care delivery, including not only the Ministry of Health but also UNRWA, the
private sector and community organizations.

As a means of upgrading the health services available to women, in 1995 the Ministry of Health
established a Women’s Health and Development Directorate. To simplify its tasks, the new
directorate reported directly to the Minister of Health and was provided with a Facilitation

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Committee made up of representatives from all relevant services in the Ministry, including the
Primary Health Care Directorate, the Hospitals Directorate, the Human Resources Development
Department, the Nursing Department, the Health Education Directorate, specialists, UNRWA,
the Family Planning and Protection Association, and UNRWA medical committees. The
mandate of the Facilitation Committee is to draft policies, plans and programmes in the field of
women’s health and development and to see to their monitoring and implementation.

The Palestinian Authority has devoted particular attention to women and population health, and
it has taken action to implement the recommendations of the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994, which were, in essence, that
women’s health should be viewed holistically and appropriate care provided in all stages of life.
The National Health Plan enshrined the objectives and aspirations of the ICPD by integrating
reproductive health services, in the comprehensive sense, into the primary health care available
at maternal and child health centres.

Main achievements of the Women’s Health and Development Directorate

• Development of a national women’s health strategy, in partnership with a wide range of

governmental and non-governmental institutions;

• Inclusion of the strategy within the national women’s health plan;

• Preparation of a unified national protocol and consistent standards in the field of reproductive
health, in partnership with a wide range of governmental and non- governmental institutions,
and a national advisory protocol, again with contributions from a broad variety of partners;

• Integration of new services into the package of maternal and child primary health care
services, including family planning services, cervical smears, breast self-examination and in-
clinic breast examination for early signs of breast cancer and other women’s health services;
these services are being expanded within primary health care, albeit only gradually, because
they require support, human resource training, and equipment;

• Research in the field of women’s health;

• Action to provide continuing training for senior personnel working in the field of women’s
health, both by organizing courses within the country and by sending delegations abroad for
training;

• Preparation of training courses for senior personnel in the field of reproductive health, and
senior human resource development through the production of training materials on women’s
health;

• A skills upgrading course for women community health workers in the Rural Girls’
Development Centre in Silat az-Zahr, which is administered by the Ministry of Local
Governance. The course was organized through the Interministerial Coordination Committee
(ICC), and consisted of 40 hours of training followed by a field training programme in home

14
 care and hospital care. Twenty- four girls from the region attended the course. All the trainers
had qualification certificates validated by the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry
of Health;

• Development of instructional materials on family planning methods, breastfeeding and other

subjects;

• Organization of a service delivery procedure whereby the recipient receives service in

accordance with a schedule prepared by the Women’s Health and Development Directorate,
and training for the workers involved;

• A series of lectures in schools, organized in coordination with the Ministry of Education, on

the adverse effects of early marriage;

• A series of radio programmes on women’s health, broadcast over the Voice of Palestine, on
various subjects, including pregnancy, gestational diabetes, the concept of women’s health
and other matters of relevance for women’s health;

• Development of a model cervical smear and a model mammogram, printed and distributed to
clinics for use in comprehensive health service centres.

Related achievements include the construction and equipping of a mammography

examination facility in Hebron, and work is proceeding on similar facilities in Nablus and
Jenin.

• There has been a great improvement in reproductive health and women’s issues, having due
regard to the customs and traditions of the Palestinian family and Palestinian society and to
religious principles and beliefs. This approach has helped promote and propagate positive
attitudes toward the use of family planning services and social acceptance of the concept of
reproductive health. The views of religious leaders were consulted in such issues as the
spacing of pregnancies and the importance of men’s involvement and role in the matter of
reproductive health. Awareness programmes on breastfeeding and its benefits for the health
of mother and baby have also been developed.

• There has been a noteworthy capacity-building effort covering many aspects of Palestinian
health care facilities. The examples listed below are particularly noteworthy:

1. Founding of a fully equipped training centre in Hawara (Nablus district);

2. Renovation of 54 clinics in all districts of the West Bank;

3. Upgrading of the administrative skills of the team participating in this project;

4. Enhanced social awareness: there are now impressive numbers of men, women and young
persons attending schools and universities and members of social organizations who have been
sensitized to reproductive health issues;

15
5. Production of large quantities of pamphlets, posters and instructional materials, as well as five
films that have been shown on all local and government-run television networks, on family
planning, breastfeeding, early marriage and why it is undesirable, and how to do a breast self-
examination; production of a 15- minute video on early marriage and family planning; radio
programmes for women; seminars, competitions and other events on women’s health and family
health, all supported by statements by religious leaders. The European project terminated on 30
June 2003.

Continuing education policy

Training and delegations abroad have enjoyed particular attention as a means of strengthening
and building the capacities of senior health personnel working in reproductive health services, in
accordance with the priority needs of centres and hospitals. Training is offered at the University
of Jordan, the Jordan Hospital and ‘Ayn Shams University in Cairo, for periods that may range
from one month to 12 months, depending on our needs. Some examples of courses are listed
below.

1. Cytology and histopathology: nine months, four trainees;

2. Ultrasonography: three months, six trainees;
3. Emergency obstetrical care: one month, six trainees;
4. Management of high-risk pregnancy: one month, six trainees.

In-country training

Training is also provided in Palestine, in full coordination with non-governmental doctors’

organizations that supply women doctors as health outreach workers, nurses and midwives,
following the signing of agreements with the NGOs concerned and with the Ibn Sina College of
Nursing. Some examples of courses are listed below.

1. The concept of reproductive health;

2. Family planning;
3. The cervical smear technique;
4. Breast cancer prevention through breast self-examination and in-clinic examination;
5. Training in the use of the mammographic X-ray system;
6. Courses on dealing with women who are going through the menopause;
7. Advice on reproductive health;
8. Special training for Arab midwives in the various districts;
9. Training for reproductive health service providers on disorders of the reproductive tract
and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases;
10. Training on the risks of early marriage and its impact on the health of women, babies and
families;
11. Training for clinic administrators on the use of the computer;
12. Training on dealing with and treating cases of sterility, and possibilities for referring
them to specialized centres.

16
The current situation in the Palestinian territories in general, and the West Bank in particular, is
having adverse impacts on the health of women and children, especially during pregnancy and at
the time of delivery, as a result of closures and prohibitions on travel, making it difficult for a
pregnant woman to reach a hospital. Accordingly, during the first six months of the repression
the Ministry of Health joined forces with the World Health Organization (WHO) to conduct a
study which found that home deliveries in Palestine had increased by 29.6 per cent. This
impelled the Women’s Health and Development Directorate to develop a programme of training
in safe delivery procedures for doctors, legally qualified nurses and midwives, in the hope of
reducing the incidence of death and complications in home deliveries, especially where it is
impossible to get to a hospital. The training is given subject to the condition that trainees must be
residents of remote villages that do not have access to medical services.

Current orientations

1. Upgrading of currently available facilities with a view to developing service quality,

updating the knowledge and sharpening the skills of health practitioners, reinforcing and
training available human resources, and developing plans for the implementation of
health care projects that meet the needs of women at all stages in their lives;

2. Action to coordinate with all women’s health service providers, including government
agencies and NGOs, and establishment of a coordination mechanism. There is some
coordination between these various bodies now, but there is a need for a mechanism to
coordinate their respective efforts, and support and strengthening is also required,
especially now tha t the Women’s Health and Development Directorate within the
Ministry of Health is available for that purpose;

3. Action to coordinate with international supporting institutions concerned with women’s

health. Those institutions coordinate their own efforts in order to prevent duplication of
their work and make efforts, time and money available to enhance and upgrade
programmes concerned with women’s health and development.

Service delivery

• Action to upgrade the quality of women’s health care services. This will be brought about
through continuing training courses for health care workers and updating their knowledge
on an ongoing basis, with a view to providing satisfactory, high-quality services;

• Action to create a health service delivery monitoring and follow- up mechanism, with a
view to upgrading service quality;

• Promotion of the concept of family planning as a social concept, and including it among
maternal and child services provided as part of primary health care. Action to enhance
popular awareness of the fact that family planning has a beneficial impact on the health
of women and children;

17
 • Development of awareness programmes for the electronic and print media providing
information about women’s health and the fact that every woman is entitled to
information concerning her health. These programmes must be distributed to all
government agencies and NGOs involved with women’s health care service delivery as a
contribution to the enhancement of knowledge and information in the field of women’s
health and development. Action to heighten awareness of the importance of using the
various media, workshops, posters and the like to disseminate health-related information
and attitudes. Evaluation studies on media activities relating to women’s health and the
impact of media programming on the target audience.

Obstacles and difficulties

1. Early marriage resulting in early pregnancy, with its adverse impacts on women’s
physical and emotional health;
2. Traditions and customs that make discussion of sexually transmitted diseases a taboo
subject;
3. High population growth rates and poor economic living conditions;
4. Marriage between first cousins, which account for 37 per cent of all marriages;
5. Health statistics that are incomplete, especially as regards sexually transmitted diseases;
6. Reliance on donor States for service coverage and health programmes, especially in the
areas of women’s health and reproductive health.

To address these difficulties, the Ministries of Health, Education, Information, Youth and Sports,
Social Affairs and Justice have joined forces with governmental institutions and NGOs operating
in the field of women’s health in a coordinated effort to develop plans and strategies aimed at
improving the health status of women by such actions as raising the age of marriage, making
education compulsory and establishing a mechanism to implement the law to that effect. At
present education is in fact compulsory, but monitoring and enforcement action is inadequate.

Main indicators in the area of the health status of Palestinian women

• Life expectancy is 74 years for women, compared to 71 years for men, according to
estimates from 2002;

• Infant mortality rates were 25.5 per thousand by 2000, down from 26 per thousand in
1995;

• 88.4 per cent of women who had ever been married were not familiar with the technical
term “reproductive health”, according to the findings of a health survey conducted in
2000;

• 96 per cent of women received health care during pregnancy, according to statistics from
2000;

• In 2000, 73.7 per cent of women did not receive postnatal health care, compared to 80.3
per cent in 1996;

18
 • 33.2 per cent of all women of childbearing age and 31.1 per cent of all pregnant women
suffer from anaemia, according to the findings of a nutrition survey conducted in 2002;

• 34.8 per cent of non-pregnant women also suffer from anaemia, according to the findings
of a nutrition survey conducted in 2002.

Reports indicate that health conditions in the Palestinian territories generally and the health
status of women in particula r have deteriorated as a result of Israeli actions such as the blockades
and closures that are imposed on Palestinian areas. Reports also indicate that there have been
approximately 151 cases of women who have given birth at roadblocks or at home because they
were unable to get to a hospital, and 29 cases of newborn infants who have died at roadblocks.
Needless to say, events of this kind have an adverse impact on women’s emotional and physical
health as well.

Women and education

The Palestinian National Authority took over responsibility for the education process in 1994,
establishing a specialized ministry, the Ministry of Education, for that purpose. It is the
Ministry’s task to do its utmost to overcome the effects of 34 years of Israeli occupation of the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank, during which time schools were neglected in every way: training,
personnel skills development, school infrastructure, educational innovations, all were
nonexistent, and there were no desks, laboratories or equipment.

In its actions and plans, the Ministry adopted a clear policy of non-discrimination between the
sexes in all matters relating to the opening of schools, the appointment of senior administrative
and technical personnel, the delivery of training courses and delegations sent abroad for training.
This had the effect of bridging the gender gap at the lower primary level: girls now represent 45
per cent of all pupils at that level, and 49 per cent of all primary school principals are women.
However, there is still a gender gap as regards teaching staff at community colleges, where 25
per cent of staff members are women, and at universities, where women account for no more
than 12 per cent of staff members. Today, women constitute 45 per cent of all students attending
Palestinian universities, and those universities have been strengthened and developed.

Many more girls now take vocational education than was the case in former years: in 1997, girls
accounted for no more than 18 per cent of all students attending vocational schools. Even so,
there is still a gender gap in the various fields of vocational education, and greater efforts must
be made to close that gap. According to statistical data from 2002, 27 per cent of all students
enrolled at vocational schools in that year were girls.

Achievements contributing to bridging the gender gap in education

• Legislation and plans

The Ministry’s five- year plan has been reviewed from a gender perspective, and the gender issue
has been integrated into all fields, levels and programmes. The draft Education Law includes a

19
clear, unambiguous provision to the effect that everything in the Law applies to pupils and
students of both sexes on a footing of equality. The Ministry of Education has allowed married
women to complete their formal education, adopting a system of regulations designed expressly
for that purpose with a view to combating the dropout phenomenon. The Ministry is also
preparing to open schools and classes for girls in remote areas and Bedouin communities.

• Development and capacity-building

Vocational education has been expanded to include more girls. It has also been diversified: there
are now courses in such subjects as agricultural education, computer maintenance and hotel
management, and all of them are open to male and female students alike.

The situation within the Ministry itself has clearly evolved, with women now occupying such
senior posts as assistant deputy minister, general director, ministerial secretary, consultant and
director of education.

There have been a number of attempts to alter stereotyped images of women in school curricula
and textbooks. Curricula and textbooks are currently being evaluated from that standpoint, with
comments being forwarded to the Palestinian Curriculum Centre. It is expected that the proposed
changes will be made when the books in question are reprinted.

But while these achievements are greatly to the credit of the Ministry of Education, the
occupation remains the main obstacle to change in the educational process generally and
women’s education in particular. All components of the education system have been targeted by
the occupation forces and their repressive actions, as may be seen from the fact that many
students and teachers have fallen as martyrs during the Al-Aqsa intifada. The daily reports of the
Ministry of Education and Higher Education indicate that there have been 429 such martyrs, and
194 more among the ranks of university students and students enrolled at institutes of advanced
study. In addition, 3149 students have been wounded and 496 arrested.

The occupation forces have repeatedly invaded schools, attacking students and teachers,
smashing equipment and furniture and driving the students out, as happened in the Old City of
Jerusalem at the Dar al- Aytam secondary schools for orphans. Schools have also been emptied of
their students and turned into military posts, as happened at three schools in Hebron. Schools
have been closed by military order, as happened in the case of the schools of Al Khidr.

The Wall has also affected the educational process. Not only has its construction driven
thousands of families from their homes and deprived them of the food that they formerly
obtained by cultivating their land, it has also made it difficult for children to get to school,
especially in cases where the schools in question are on the western side of the Wall (a more
detailed discussion will be found in the documentary film attached to this report).

The educational process has continued throughout the long years of the intifada, and the Ministry
has taken measures aimed at keeping it going for boys and girls alike. Those measures have
included:

20
- Redistributing teachers to schools located in the districts where they reside in so far as possible,
subject to the availability of the necessary fields of specialization;

- Opening evening schools for pupils whose regular schools have been bombed or attacked by
the army or settlers, and opening sections in other schools, especially for secondary- level
students in their final year;

- Enlisting the assistance of volunteers, including university students, educated employees and
retired teachers;

- Pressing supervisors and school district and Ministry employees into service as teachers in
schools in their various districts where teachers are in short supply;

- Seeking the assistance of public institutions in transporting teachers to their schools through
checkpoints;

- Making houses available as residences for pupils from other districts with a view to enabling
them to continue to attend their schools;

- Joining forces with international institutions to mitigate the suffering of pupils and teachers by
providing first-aid funding for schools and funding for repairs to schools that have been
bombed;

- Using local television stations to broadcast lessons for pupils in the lower primary classes and
secondary- level students in their final year;

- Transferring pupils in districts where travel has been prohibited to the nearest school they can
reach.

Main indicators in the area of the educational status of women

• Rising literacy rates among young people, with declining numbers of Palestinians who
are unable to read or write;

• Illiteracy is still high among older people, at 84.5 per cent for women over 65 and 42.5
per cent for men in that age group;

• School attendance rates are 91.9 per cent for girls and 91.0 per cent for boys at the
primary level, and 51.6 per cent for girls and 45.7 per cent for boys at the secondary
level;

• 23.8 per cent of women in the 18-23 age group are enrolled in institutions of higher
education, while the corresponding figure for men in that age group is 24.7 per cent,
according to statistics from 2002;

• Women account for more than half of all students attending community colleges;

21
 • Women tend to specialize in a limited number of programmes, such as social science,
health science and teacher training; few of them take technical or vocational courses;

• Women accounted for 27 per cent of all students enrolled in vocational education in the
2001-2002 academic year, compared to 18 per cent in 1997;

• Women make up 27.2 per cent of teaching staff at community colleges, and 11.3 per cent
of teaching staff at universities.

Recommendations

• An orientation toward supporting university and higher education for women;

• A broader range of vocational education programmes offered to women;

• Support and incentives for women to opt for technical and vocational education;

• Action to make education compulsory through the secondary level;

• Raising the age of marriage to 18, when the students have completed the secondary level;

• A broader range of adult education and literacy programmes.

Women and the law

This issue is of paramount importance for the development and evolution of society in general,
and for the advancement of women and bridging of the gender gap in particular. Furthermore,
an historic opportunity is at hand, one that may never recur: the laws governing the life of
Palestinian society are being overhauled and redrafted. Accordingly, the women’s movement and
community organizations in general, and the ICC in particular, have closely followed the process
of the preparation and drafting of legislation by specialized committees in an effort to ensure that
the revised laws meet the needs of men and women alike. The women’s movement has endorsed
the makeup of the committees, which include all women’s organizations and development-
related organizations concerned with the issue. The efforts and capacities of all parties can thus
be harnessed for the task of attaining the announced goal, namely non-discriminatory legislation.

Main achievements in the area of the law

• The Basic Law, which states unequivocally that men and women are equal in the various
areas of life;

• Approval of the Social Insurance Law, which deals with old age pensions, disability
pensions and compensation for work-related injuries; unfortunately, some of its
provisions are discriminatory against women;

22
• The Legislative Council Election Law, which provides that women are entitled to stand
as candidates for election to the Council and to vote;

• The Civil Service Law, which grants women three months of maternity leave with pay
and one- hour nursing breaks, besides a children’s allowance for women who are the sole
support of their families;

• The Labour Law, which inc ludes a special section on the rules governing the employment
of women and aims consistently at equal treatment and equality of opportunity;

• A draft Law on Children, the provisions of which do not discriminate between male and
female children;

• A draft law on general elections and the election of local councils. While this law does
not discriminate between men and women, the fact that women have been absent from
these bodies for many centuries means that as a practical matter, they have little chance
of winning seats on them. Consequently, the women’s movement has submitted a brief to
the Legislative Council with a view to having the law amended to include a quota system;

• Instructions and regulations issued by the Ministry of the Interior allowing a woman to
obtain a passport without being required to obtain the permission of her guardian, and
giving a woman the right to apply for and obtain documents for her children. The
Ministry of Education and Higher Education, for its part, has issued special regulations
allowing married women to take courses to complete their formal education;

• A draft Penal Code, which is due to be given it second reading shortly. Women’s
organizations reviewed the old Code and submitted comments deploring its view of
women and its tolerance of sexual harassment, incest, wife-beating and sexual violence.
These comments and proposed amendments have been incorporated into the revised
Code, which is the outcome of discussion within focus groups made up of representatives
from government institutions and NGOs. Specifically, the proposed amendments include
provisions penalizing anyone who seeks to obtain the hand of a woman in marriage by
force or deception, including cases where a lighter penalty is imposed because the
offender has a valid excuse, and provisions to the effect that a woman shall not be
penalized for abortion in specific cases;

• A draft Family Code, of which the women’s movement is in the process of preparing a
preliminary version for submission to the Legislative Council;

• A draft Public Health Law, which is due to be given its third reading shortly. Comments
submitted were incorporated into the proposed draft text by a special committee, working
in coordination with various institutions concerned with the issue.

23
Obstacles to law reform

• Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories, and its disregard of the peace
agreement and international laws and agreements;

• The fact that the Palestinian people have no unified legal authority, as a Palestinian State
has not yet been established, with a constitution defining the nature of the State, the
regime, and citizenship rights, which would serve as a source of law for the State;

• Another obstacle to legislative and law reform is the fact that while there is a clearly
defined mechanism for submitting draft laws and a procedure for adopting them, the
Legislative Council is not required to apply that mechanism;

• There are still many weak points in current draft legislation aimed at contributing to a
more active role for women and more active participation by them;

• Prevailing social traditions and customs which restrict women’s capacity to exercise and
defend their rights, combined with the fact that some members of the Legislative Council
accept and defend outmoded ideas.

Conclusion

The decade that has elapsed since the Fourth World Conference on Women may be divided into
two distinct periods, each of them marked by its own characteristic conditions and
circumstances, which have had disparate impacts, both direct and indirect, on the status of
Palestinian women as it has evolved over the years. The first of these periods covers the years
1995-2000, and the second from 2000 to the present.

First period: 1995-2000

This was the period that followed the signing of the peace agreement between the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993. Under that agreement, the Palestinian
National Authority was established on part of the Palestinian territory, with jurisdiction over
some Palestinian cities, and that jurisdiction was subsequently extended to all Palestinian cities.
This period was characterized by political quiet and stability, with the result that the Palestinian
economy grew as investment capital poured in, while the Authority established and developed a
variety of institutions to deliver services to Palestinians, men and women alike.

The first Palestinian legislative elections were held in 1996, producing the first leadership elected
by the Palestinian people exercising their right to choose their own rulers. Palestinian women
and the Palestinian women’s movement were closely involved with these changes and
innovations. Women exercised their right to stand as candidates for election and to vote, and five
women members were elected to seats on the 88- member Legislative Council.

During this period, the status of Palestinian women evolved to a noteworthy degree in all areas
of economic, social and political life. The labour force participation rate for women had

24
increased to a record high of 12.7 per cent by 2000. Those years were also marked by a
perceptible improvement in women’s health, as a broader range of health care services was
provided both by the governmental sector and by community institutions. More women than ever
before received perinatal care. A contributing factor in this changing situation was undoubtedly
the improvement in women’s education: reports indicate rising school attendance rates and
declining illiteracy.

A significant institutional development was the establishment of the Interministerial

Coordination Committee on the Advancement of Women (ICC), with a membership consisting
of representatives from units with responsibility for women’s programmes within various
ministries. While there are some remarks that might be made about the Committee’s role, it
joined forces with the General Union of Palestinian Women to produce the National Strategy for
the Advancement of Palestinian Women in 1997.

Second period: 2000-present

In 2000, the Al- Aqsa intifada broke out, sparked by the political suffocation that the region was
experiencing as a result of Israel’s failure to fulfil its commitments in the context of the peace
process. When the intifada began, the Israeli occupiers began to apply policies of blockading and
sealing off the Palestinian territories in an attempt to subdue the Palestinian people and compel
them to relinquish their legitimate national rights to freedom and independence.

This period has been marked by growing numbers of Palestinian martyrs, while many
Palestinians have been wounded, and many more are being held in Israeli prisons. The victims
have included both men and women. Statistics show that there have been 2484 martyrs since the
outbreak of the intifada, and that 6.1 per cent of them have been women. The number of
Palestinian women detainees has risen from five during the 1995-2000 period to 79 in 2004. The
period since 2000 has also been marked by deteriorating socio-economic conditions for the
Palestinian people, as the prevalence of poverty has risen to 60 per cent, while unemployment
among Palestinian citizens has soared.

As conflict has flared, it is Palestinian women who have suffered most heavily. Reports indicate
that not only have women fallen as martyrs, been wounded and held in detention, but their labour
force participation has declined to 10.4 per cent. Furthermore, Israeli repressive actions have led
to a decline in the level of health care that Palestinian women receive during pregnancy and after
delivery. There have been many cases of Palestinian women who have given birth at
checkpoints, and many cases of newborn babies who have died there.

While there has been perceptible progress in the area of girls’ education, the educational process
has not been spared by Israeli actions. Closures and blockades ha ve been seriously disruptive,
causing pupils to lose many school days. Furthermore, some schools have been closed, others
occupied, and still others turned into military posts.

In the light of the history of this period, and the available data on Palestinian women during it, it
is clearly essential to conduct a careful study in preparation for drafting a strategy and plans

25
aimed at the advancement and development of women, to enable them to participate in and
contribute to the work of founding and building the nation side by side with men.

26
Part III: Institutional development

Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women

The Palestinian Declaration of Independence, issued in 1988, enshrines the principle of equality
and non-discrimination in rights and duties between women and men in Palestinian society.

After the signing of the peace agreement between the PLO and Israel, under which the
Palestinian National Authority was established, the authority proceeded to create various
ministries to implement its policies.

Units with responsibility for the advancement of women were set up within 12 ministries which
were structured so as conveniently to accommodate such an arrangement, while in others, such
as the Ministries of Education, Tourism and Agriculture, and in the Palestine Monetary
Authority, a special section was established to handle women’s affairs. Ten ministries have no
machinery to deal with women’s affairs as such (UNIFEM).

Within the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, a Gender Statistics Programme was
established, and it is noteworthy that the programme has played an important role as a
mechanism for the advancement of women by providing data and statistics which reveal gender
gaps in Palestine’s political, economic and social life. These have been useful in the analysis of
policies and plans and have been taken into account in the formulation of new policies and plans
aimed at bridging such gender gaps.

In addition, the Interministerial Coordination Committee on the Advancement of Women,

headed by Ms. Um Jihad, Minister of Social Affairs, was established as a body with
responsibility for coordinating the Government’s efforts aimed at the advancement of Palestinian
women. It is the ICC’s task to ensure that policies and plans developed by the Palestinian
National Authority are suitable in terms of meeting the needs of both men and women. The
ICC’s membership consists of representatives from units with responsibility for women’s
programmes within various ministries and persons with ana logous responsibilities in others. The
Ministry of Social Affairs coordinates the ICC’s work. Owing to a variety of objective factors
having to do with the ICC itself, however, the Committee has been unable to execute its mandate
and attain the objectives assigned to it.

None the less, the ICC collaborated with the General Union of Palestinian Women to prepare the
National Strategy for the Advancement of Palestinian Women, which was aimed at addressing
the critical areas of concern enunciated at the Beijing Conference.

The General Directorate for the Planning and Development of Women’s Participation, an arm of
the Ministry of Planning and Coordination, joined forces with units with responsibility for
women’s programmes within other ministries to organize a series of training workshops for the
purpose of integrating a gender perspective into the policies, plans and programmes of a number
of ministries (Local Governance, Labour, Agriculture, Environment and Social Affairs).
Necessary measures to that end were identified, and action plans to implement those measures
were adopted. The General Directorate for the Planning and Development of Women’s

27
Participation also prepared a report on follow-up to and evaluation of the task of integrating
a gender perspective into the policies and plans of the ministries concerned.

The General Directorate has also adopted a project aimed at the political, economic and social
empowerment of women, which it is executing in partnership with all concerned parties,
including governmental institutions and NGOs. The project is thus serving as a model for
partnership, cooperation and joint action between the government and the community sector in
the area of the advancement of women at all levels.

In 2003, the Government decided to take the long-anticipated step of establishing a Ministry of
Women’s Affairs as the officially recognized supreme governmental body representing women’s
interests at the national level. The Ministry’s mandate includes working for the advancement and
empowerment of Palestinian women and emphasizing the integration of gender issues in national
and sectoral policies and plans.

Mission and vision of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs works within the Palestinian National Authority for the
advancement and empowerment of Palestinian women with a view to enabling them to
participate in and contribute to the task of building and developing a democratic Palestine and an
active civil society characterized by national, civilized, humanistic values and committed to the
aims listed below:

1. Strengthening Palestinian women’s sense of identity;

2. Strengthening the concepts of democracy, justice and equality;

3. Encouraging a spirit of collective action and volunteer action in Palestinian women;

4. Fostering a national social environment that will nurture women’s issues and support
them with data and human and financial resources;

5. Promoting the status of women by enabling them to participate in decision- making at all
legislative, executive and judicial levels;

6. Action to achieve meaningful recognition of women’s roles in all fields, inasmuch as this
is a key factor in the realization of democracy and human development;

7. Action to implant the concept of women’s rights, inasmuch as this is a fundamental part
of human rights;

8. Strengthening cooperation and partnership between governmental and community

institutions and with Arab and international institutions, in order to heighten the
awareness and increase the experience of Palestinian women;

28
 9. Immediate action to develop the representation of Palestinian women in regional and
international fora.

General objective of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs

To complete the task of reintegrating Palestinian women into a sophisticated civil society
capable of enhancing and releasing their capacities by stimulating and supporting them and
enabling them to participate in the work of nation-building and independence, within
programmes aimed at reinforcing their sense of belonging to the Palestinian nation and their
sense of identity, developing their self-reliance, fostering their self-confidence, kindling in them
a spirit of equal worth and collective action carried on side by side with men, implanting the
concepts of democracy and social justice and strengthening the go vernment’s commitment to
gender issues, the advancement of women, the development of their role and enforcement of
their political, economic and social rights.

Specific objectives of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs

1. To strengthen the government’s commitment to integrate gender issues, democracy and

human rights into the policy, plans and programmes of the various ministries;

2. To undertake activities aimed at bringing pressure to bear on and/or influencing and/or

developing policies and laws;

3. To build a network of links with governmental and international women’s organizations

and regional and international human-rights organizations, and to exchange experiences
with them in the area of the application of international instruments relating to women
and human rights, including, in particular, the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Obstacles

• Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories and the fact that the
Palestinian people have not yet been able to exercise their legitimate national rights, with
the result that the political issue has taken precedence over other issues;

• The fact that there is still no serious political commitment to ending discrimination and
inequality between men and women in Palestinian society;

• The fact that the Palestinian National Authority is still new, with unclear and constantly
shifting structures and weak internal coordination systems; this has made it difficult for
units with responsibility for women’s issues in the various ministries to attain their
objective of integrating a gender perspective into their respective ministries’ policies,
plans and programmes;

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 • The fact that units with responsibility for women’s issues in the various ministries are
still inchoate, lacking qualified senior personnel and budgets of their own, and
consequently are not yet in a position to carry out their mandates;

• The fact that decision- makers in the various ministries tend to be sceptical about units
with responsibility for women’s issues, while other units are frequently unaware of or
uninformed about the function assigned to those units;

• The fact that the necessary funding to meet women’s practical and strategic needs is not
available.

Sources

• Women and Men in Palestine, Trends and Statistics, Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics, No. 2, 2003

• Evaluating the Status of Palestinian Women in Light of the Beijing Platform for Action,
UNIFEM, Amman, 2002

• National report, Palestinian Women Five Years After Beijing, Interministerial

Coordination Committee on the Advancement of Women, 2002

• Reports submitted by units with responsibility for women’s affairs in the various
ministries.

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