Three mothers, three daughters: Palestinian women's stories

Abstract

This book contains the oral histories of three mother-daughter pairs of Palestinian women. The highly diverse and personal experiences of the women conveyed through these oral histories reflect the social changes which have taken place in this region in the past 50 years which have led to 1) a striking increase in the amount of formal education attained by girls and women (none of the three mothers was literate but two of the daughters went to college and the third finished ninth grade) 2) a liberalization of attitudes and actions regarding the choice of a marriage partner and 3) increasing employment of women in the public domain. While two of the three pairs of women are not involved in the political upheaval which characterizes the area none questioned the right of women to such involvement. The womens comments also shed light on the controversy raging about the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the region. Exhibiting the entire range of reaction to the possibility of living in a Muslim fundamentalist state one mother-daughter pair would support such a change and another of the women would leave the region if such an eventuality occurred. In addition to the three chapters on each mother-daughter pair this book also contains an introduction written by its male author a Jewish-American psychologist an epilogue by its female author a Palestinian special education teacher a map of Israel and a short chronology of the principal events in the recent history of the region.