Palestinian Women of Gaza and the West Bank

This volume introduces the reader to the multiple roles and challenges that women faced in the interaction between the social and political dimensions of Arab/Palestinian society on the West Bank. In her introduction, Suha Sabbagh contextualizes the role of women within the general socio-political s [...]
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This volume introduces the reader to the multiple roles and challenges that women faced in the interaction between the social and political dimensions of Arab/Palestinian society on the West Bank. In her introduction, Suha Sabbagh contextualizes the role of women within the general socio-political struggles of the West Bank and in the Arab world. The international media, as well as Arabic commentators have failed to accurately assess the contributions of women's institutions, and the spontaneous support of traditional women to the Intifada. What now will be the impact of the politicization of these traditional women on the predicated social transformations of the emerging Palestinian state? Will the women seek to alter their role in society and what will be the response to their attempts? The essays in this multidisciplinary work, written from an 'insiders' perspective seek to answer these questions.The four essays in section one, 'Defining the Role of Women', provide the social and political background for understanding the role of women, including their position in the family, issues that spurred on the development of a women's movement and the organization known as Women's Work Committees which developed during the Intifada.The second section, 'How the Culture Recorded Women's Role', provides an introduction to the role of gender in culture and literature that flowed from the Intifada.While Ghazaleh's essay indicates that political poetry reflects no serious changes in the perception of women, Kanaan's shows that there were changes in folkloric legends. Sabbagh's, however, finds as early as 1967, some women writers had already developed feminist consciousness. As the title of the third section indicates, 'The Double Burden of Women', addresses the challenges facing women. Robin Morgan's personal account of her visit to the West Bank is complimented by Sarraj's psycho-social analysis. Interviews with Hanan Ashrawi and with five women activists give this section a personal perspective. In the fourth and final section, 'Anticipations After Oslo', Amal Kawar focuses on developments since 1993 while Sabbagh provides a textual analysis of 'Women's Declaration of Principles, a women's declaration of rights which the proponents hope will be incorporated into the constitution of a future Palestinian State.