Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Palestinian Women in Israel

Rola Hamed

The issue of the condition and status of Palestinian women interacts with all political, economic and social indicators and events of the Arab Palestinian society as well as that society’s marginalization in comparison with the Jewish society in Israel
June 2004


The Palestinian woman in Israel has a unique situation that should be neither ignored nor dismissed as being merely a ‘social’ phenomenon. The issue of the condition and status of Palestinian women interacts with all political, economic and social indicators and events of the Arab Palestinian society as well as that society’s marginalization in comparison with the Jewish society in Israel. Accordingly, the condition of Palestinian women is impacted upon both by being women within the Palestinian women is impacted upon both by being women within the Palestinian context and for being women living in a state that oppresses their nation and occupies their land. We can examine the condition of the Palestinian woman living within Israel as resulting from several interacting and overlapping spheres of discrimination that combine to limit her possibilities.

Spheres of Discrimination

The first sphere is discrimination of a general societal type which applies to Israel as a whole. Israel is a military state that dedicates most of its resources toward the military machine, the building of settlements and the ongoing occupation and oppression of another nation. It is therefore dominated by a masculine military mentality that honours power and gives priority to those who have a military reputation. This creates a pyramidal structure on which attaining wealth, recognized decision-making status and social esteem are dependent upon being male and which excludes the participation of women. Palestinian women also suffer from discrimination in Israel by virtue of being part of the Palestinian minority inside Israel and who therefore endure the same discrimination as any member of that community – that is, they are discriminated against on a national basis. In this respect, Palestinian men and women stand together against discrimination in budget allocation, land confiscation and allocation, home demolitions, neglected educational systems, limited job opportunities and increasing unemployment. The third sphere of discrimination is of a social kind within the Arab Palestinian society. In this context, the composition of traditions and values of this society and culture view women as subordinate and derivative – a minor ‘rib’ on which guardianship should be imposed. This perception functions to justify punishment and restrictions on women’s movement; it limits the potential for the development of the self and effective participation in society as a whole.

Women in the Political Arena

Despite their willingness to achieve political representation, a considerable retreat has occurred in recent years in respect to the participation of Arab women in Israeli – Palestinian political parties. This retreat has occurred despite the fact that Palestinian women are clearly dissatisfied both by the way political parties deal with their concerns and with their representation in political parties and the various elected public associations, such as the local authorities and the Knesset. The lack of women’s ability to participate in these institutions relates to the character of the political institutions themselves, which are primarily founded on principles of party loyalty determined by family or tribe. In this context, women find themselves more and more excluded from a political sphere which does not provide an area separate to the domestic sphere, in which the role of women is constructed on limited and traditional principles. As such, the role of women within politics is clearly defined and circumscribed. The political parties deal with women as an electoral resource that is taken into consideration only as an emotive object and when there is a need for the assembly of crowds, holding of crowds, holding of demonstrations or collecting supporting votes. It must also be acknowledged, however, that there are is small group of politically active women who have demonstrated great determination to participate and who attempt push forward proposals that improve the position of women within the political system. It should also be admitted, however, that the participation of women remains marginal and that during the intensification of the military activities, the political sphere assumes an even stronger masculine affinity and women’s input is regarded as tangential to concerns of the national struggle.

When spheres collide

Arab Palestinian women bear compound identities constructed in both the domestic and public spheres. For a woman to participate in the political sphere and take political action, she must negotiate the norms and expectations of one sphere in order to enter another (i.e. exiting from the domestic circle to the public). In numerous ways this negotiation reaches its peak when entering the political parties. While the impetus to take this step may be made by virtue of a particular individual’s determination, such a move is highly constrained by a significant number of disabling factors. These would include the lack of familial support, the marginalisation of Arab parties within Israel and the marginalisation of women within these parties, psychological factors such as guilt about family and house and the lack of lobbying groups to improve women’s status. There is a small number of Palestinian Arab women still involved the Zionist political parties claiming to support the peace process, such as Meretz and Labour. However, the Arab women’s movement within the Israeli Palestinian context generally expresses disapproval with this involvement, criticizing it due to these parties’ inconsistent policies and the sharp contradiction with national loyalty.

Women and nation

The result of female exclusion from the political activity of their society effectively represents a denial of women’s connection with reality. The events of October 2000, during which Palestinian crowds faced the accumulated discrimination, racism and marginalisation policies toward our people and which resulted in the killing of 13 of our young, painfully demonstrate how close to the realities of the situation we are. However, even here the absence of women from decision-making following this tragedy clearly marks their effective exclusion from the reality of the national struggle. This political exclusion, this exclusion from the decision making processes that affect the nation as a whole, denies the right of one half of the population to contribute and participate in the fight for freedom. This raises the question of whether it’s possible to liberate a nation that oppresses part of itself. For the Palestinian minority in Palestine to develop, it must allow freedom for its own people, for its women. For this reason the issue must be considered in parallel with the national issue. The entire political vision of the status of Palestinian women in Israel makes it impossible to separate the national tasks from the social issues; they are physically joined and interact and influence with each other. The accumulating women’s experience proves that any attempt to separate them would lead to weakness in proposals and action. Nevertheless, we are excluded. It is possible that the insistence on a symbiotic relationship between the women’s and national struggles will create additional difficulties, including the addition of further variables to an already complex situation and the diffusion of efforts in several directions. However, the positive attributes of the women’s movements and their professional competence can provide a general framework in which each can focus on areas of specialization while providing overall co-ordination and an inclusive setting for addressing the public, political and national issues.

Working Women

The Arab women is starting to play a more important role in different fields as she passes through the private world of the house to involve herself with the public field. If this change in the status of woman results in a change in modern Arab societies, it remains subject to different questions. The most important question is to what extent this change relates to a change in the vision of the Arab human, male or female, about themselves and their relation with the other and the values that support this vision. However, despite the accomplishments made by women, they have yet to attain their level of ambition. The number of educated women has risen, their specialties have diversified, the level of health has improved due to better access to health services and an increase in health awareness. Many of our women have been able to get involved in numerous aspects of education and other employment fields and have proved their competence at the highest levels. It is known that we are a rural and not urban society (85% of the Arabs live in villages or large villages that are often deceptively called ‘cities’). In this respect, Palestinian society is at odds with global trends. The researcher Simyonouf points out that worldwide the percentage of women working in rural areas is significant less than that in the urban centers, even taking into consideration the recent trends for industry to relocate to non-urban areas. Statistics demonstrate that women in the western world prefer working at their place of residence so as to reduce conflict with their second job at home, thus negatively affecting productivity and equity at work. Simyonouf discusses the dual burden of rural women because in addition to facing discrimination by virtue of being women, they live within a limited employment market with jobs inappropriate to their abilities. While we are a conservative society, it is possible to refute the claim that the relative absence of women from the workplace is determined by social factors alone. Some researchers concentrate on the fact that the problem lies in our social conservativeness and the perception that a woman belongs with her family at home and that her work outside the village is shameful. Here the focus is on preconceived ideas of Palestinian culture. Research conducted by economist Ameen Faris on women within the Israeli – Palestinian context (across all sectors) shows that 38% of women are willing to work but can’t find available opportunities. Many factors, not reducible to general notions of social conservatism, conspire to restrict the working opportunities of women. Where, for example, are the available opportunities inside the Arab cities and villages? Is public transportation available for women to leave their villages for the cities where there’s a work market? Is this work market open to our women?

I am not social

The concentration of the discourse concerning Palestinian woman within Israel on social issues, as part of a self contained Palestinian enclave, without connecting to the broader political or national discourse will not solve issue that are mainly political and national. This does not mean, of course, that social reality should be ignored. There is a direct and mutual relation between the social status of women and their particular role in society and general political activity. The social position of women is necessarily influenced and affected by their participation and general political activity. The development and improvement of Arab society depends on liberating women socially, economically and politically. The social oppression of women not only affects their political position, but also affects the political position of the entire society, especially the political status of the Arab Palestinian society as a national minority in Israel. A society that oppresses an important vital sector of itself, i.e., women, will not be able to liberate itself and will be unable to develop in the same way as other nations. Crystallizing women’s identity is part and parcel of crystallizing and developing the national identity for women. It is necessary therefore to look at the issue of women in parallel to the national issue, and to work toward the advancement of women and promotion of their position in all aspects of society, particularly the political level. As a result of this, changing the social vision of women by democratizing society is an essential and indeed an inevitable matter. Women’s movements must continue to heighten social awareness of women while also supporting and strengthening the position of women at all levels. They must concentrate on both our cultural particularity and the important role of women in the democratization of society. Persistence in these issues will lead to a significant psychological and effective change which is important for lifting and strengthening the position of Arab women, and indeed for all women.