Woman Is All the Nation: The Palestinian Women's Movement, 1929–1939

Abstract

Arab Women's Association/Union (AWA) is the most active women's group in Palestine. The founding of the AWA in 1929 signified a transformation in women's organizing strategies, manifested by their self-consciousness in launching an actual women's movement in Palestine. The AWA established a national framework for the women's movement in organizing the First Arab Women's Congress in 1929, by creating local chapters and national committees. The agenda of the woman's movement was fluid, which permitted flexibility in navigating both within and around the dictates of nationalist categories. The way that women initiated the movement allowed them to seamlessly appropriate nationalism and “politicize” their experiences of working within the framework of charitable societies and other association structures.