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

Abstract

Palestinian Women’s organizations have a very important role in Palestine's civil society. The development of these organizations is well recognized and they reached their peak at the beginning of the INTIFADA. Until the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA), women’s organizations 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 organizations with the opportunity to focus on women’s issues. Indeed, since the creation of the PA, women’s organizations 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 organizations have attempted to influence PA policy to improve the position of women in Palestinian society. This paper examines the means and strategies that the Palestinian Women’s Organizations have adopted to influence Palestinian Authority (PA) policy.