| Palestinian women played a major role in the resistance
against the Israeli occupation on both a political and non-political level.
Today Palestinian women are still well organized in women's committees,
but they rarely take part in the political-decision making process.
In fact, there remains a gap between the political leadership and the women's
committees. Furthermore, the women's committees are facing a lack
of support from their constituency. Many women have left these organizations
leading to a decrease in their activities and the beginning of a collapse
of some committees.
Panorama believes that the presence of women in the political
decision-making process in all levels of society 1) is crucial to the development
of a democratic society, and 2) that it lays the foundation for a more
widespread assertion of women's rights in Palestinian society.
Therefore, since June 1996 Panorama, in cooperation with the
Women's Studies Center at Birzeit University, has been conducting a study
on the Palestinian Women's Committees. The aim of this study is to understand
the reasons for the recent demobilization of these committees. The
study is based on a comprehensive questionnaire conducted on a sample
of 270 respondents living in the West Bank. These questionnaires
have been filled out by members and former members of five Women's Committees:
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The Union of Palestinian Women Committee
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The Union of Women Social Work Committee
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The Union of Palestinian Working Women Committee
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The Women Action Association
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The Union of Women's Action Committee
Panorama organized a regional workshop in Ramallah using the
facilities of the Women's Affairs Technical Committee on January 25, 1997
in order to present the preliminary findings of the questionnaires.
A summary of the findings was presented and important
discussions took place on issues such as
-
the impact of the Women's Committee on promoting women's action
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the relations between the Women's Committees and the political parties
they are linked to
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the future of the Women's Committee
In order to reach out to all the Palestinian regions, Panorama
will organize other workshops and a more detailed report will be presented
at the end of the project. A national conference will be held
at Birzeit University in order to foster a national debate on this issue
and to raise further awareness on this topic. |
