The ongoing violent conflict in Palestine, the constant friction between different political factions, the economic sanctions and stifling restrictions on movement of people and goods don’t seem to discourage Palestinian women from the workplace. In fact, it is these dire circumstances that have forced women to find work and set-up their involvement in work in the public spheres.
The collapse of the Palestinian economy, which moved from being a middle income economy to one that is now immensely aid-dependent in the span of one decade, is causing a systematic change in women’s traditional roles. According to the findings of a report by CARE International, The World Bank and the Women’s Studies Institute (WSI) at Birzeit University, Palestinian women, regardless of their levels of skills or professional training, are becoming bread-winners and have a more noticeable presence in the public and private sectors. Life keeps handing Palestinian women lemons, and they just keep making lemonade.
Palestinian women have had more of an active and prominent role in public and political spheres compared to their counterparts in neighboring Arab countries. Many women have held high-ranking positions in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and made significant contributions and impact on the civil society movement. In 1996, Samiha Khalil (Um Khalil), a prominent public figure in Palestinian politics, ran for presidential elections against Yasser Arafat and became the first woman to run for presidential elections in an Arab country. Most recently, Laila Ghannam, a former PA minister, was sworn in as governor of Ramallah, the political and economic capital of the Palestinian Authority, and current headquarters of president Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Ghannam is the first Palestinian female governor of the West Bank’s largest city.
Such trends require particular attention from civil society groups and development organizations that aim at fostering local capacity. Despite the stifling sanctions and closures imposed on the Palestinian territories and its socio-economic impact on society, women in Palestine have proven to be adept at creating a space for themselves within which they can be major contributors and important players in their communities. With the purpose of encouraging and nurturing such skills, CIPE has been working with the Palestinian Business Women Forum (BWF) in building the capacity of women who venture into the business world. CIPE has been working with BWF to equip businesswomen in Palestine with the right business skills that will allow them to further their role in the Palestinian private sector.
BWF, in turn, has recently partnered with Birzeit University, one of the region’s leading universities, in creating a program that aims at empowering women entrepreneurs and enabling and nurturing the business skills of young Palestinian women. The new program will encourage young women and female university students to pursue entrepreneurship and consider self-employment and will provide opportunities and training to help hone their business ideas and successfully launch and manage their business ventures.
Such an initiative is a significant effort in developing local capacity and empowering the next generation of home-grown business leaders. If there’s any investment to be made in the Palestinian territories, it should be investing in enabling Palestinian women to step-up and lead the way and increase their contributions to the Palestinian economy.
Published Date: March 11, 2010