Palestinian Women’s Organisations: Their Challenging Journey towards Women’s Empowerment

Abstract

Palestinian Women’s organisations have a very important role in the Palestine civil society. The development of these organization is well recognized and they reached their peak at the beginning of the INTIFADA.

Until the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA), women’s organisations formed part of the national struggle against the Israeli occupation, and their agenda was subordinate to that of the national movement. In the late 1980s, however, a process of transformation was initiated that provided women’s organisations with the opportunity to focus on women’s issues. Indeed, since the creation of the PA, women’s organisations have focused almost exclusively on women’s issues. The PA, in contrast, has attempted to marginalize women, as reflected in the process of its consolidation. As a result, women’s organisations have attempted to influence PA policy with the objective of improving the position of women in Palestinian society. 

This paper examines the means and strategies that the Palestinian Women’s Organisations have adopted to influence Palestinian Authority (PA) policy.