Home

A recently released study says that a combination of Israeli occupation and the social restrictions imposed by Hamas leadership has worsened the autonomy and security, as well as the social and cultural rights, of women in the Palestinian territories.

Freedom House's "Women's Rights In The Middle East and North Africa," a follow-up to the watchdog organization's 2004 report on the topic, evaluates the state of women's rights as of 2009 in 17 countries and the Palestinian territories. Israel was not one of the countries examined in the report. Freedom House did not respond to The Jewish State as to why Israel was not included.

The study's recommendations to improve women's rights in the Palestinian territories include Israel guaranteeing Palestinian women living under Israeli jurisdiction freedom of movement through checkpoints, and a lifting of Gaza's border closures when necessary.

Due to the increased number of checkpoints and the construction of the West Bank security fence, "women now experience further separation from their families, farmlands, water resources, schools, and hospitals" in the Palestinian territories, the study says. In addition, the study says a "more conservative social order imposed by Hamas has led to greater restrictions on women's rights in Gaza, and women's labor force participation remains the lowest in the region as the local economy has all but collapsed."

Overall conditions for women worsened in three of 18 places examined in the report: Iraq, Yemen, and the Palestinian territories. In all of those cases, the study attributes that negative trend to an "uncertain security situation," namely "internal political tensions between Fatah and Hamas" in the Palestinian territories.

The study rated women's rights on a scale of 1 to 5 in five different categories: nondiscrimination and access to justice; autonomy, security, and freedom of the person; economic rights and equal opportunity; political rights and civic voice; and social and cultural rights. According to the study, women's rights have deteriorated in the areas of autonomy and security, declining from a score of 2.7 in 2004 to 2.4 in 2009, and social and cultural rights, going from 2.9 in 2004 to 2.6 in 2009.

A rating of 1 represents "a country where women's freedom to exercise their human rights is almost entirely restricted by the actions of state and/or non-state actors" and where "women have almost no adequate human rights protections and face systematic gender-based discrimination," while a rating of 5 represents a country "where women's freedom to exercise their human rights is almost never restricted by the actions of state and/or non-state actors" and "women have adequate human rights protections that are fully implemented," according to the study's scoring system.

Women in the Palestinian territories are subjected to restrictive personal status laws, which retain discriminatory provisions related to marriage, divorce, and child custody, inheritance, alimony, and employment opportunities, the study notes, "thereby reducing their economic autonomy and making them more vulnerable to poverty than men."

Regarding social and cultural rights, decisions about a Palestinian woman's health and reproductive rights are subject to intense pressures from her family and husband, the study says. The pressure to get pregnant -- preferably with male children -- begins as soon as women get married, and multiple births "are valued as a means of compensating for deaths related to armed conflict, and more children are traditionally perceived as bringing strength to the family." The relatively young ages at which women marry, combined with their low participation in the labor force, contribute to women's increased dependence on men, the study says. Abortion is not allowed in the Palestinian territories and is considered a crime unless the physical health of the mother is threatened by the pregnancy itself, making abortions in instances of rape or incest illegal.

Access to health care is also a social problem for Palestinians -- male and female -- and is worse in Gaza than in the West Bank due to Israeli "military incursions, continued border blockades, and electricity cuts," the study says. The border closures, the study describes, "pose serious problems for the Palestinian health system and its ability to deliver care at appropriate levels."

To remedy women's lack of autonomy and security in the Palestinian territories, the study recommends that Israel guarantee Palestinian women living under Israeli jurisdiction an identity card, freedom of movement, and access to their chosen place of employment. In the area of social rights, the study recommends that Israel grant Palestinian women full access to hospitals through checkpoints and lift closures of Gaza's borders if necessary.

The greatest gains for women in the Middle East and North Africa from 2004-2009 were achieved in the areas of employment, education, and political representation, the study says.

"More women today hold jobs, are literate, and enroll in areas of study previously deemed inappropriate for them than five years ago," the study says. "Women's rights organizations are becoming more vocal and better organized, and women are increasing their representation in elected government bodies, albeit with the help of quota systems."

However, the study says that women's overall access to justice remains poor due to "their low degree of legal literacy, cultural requirements that women first seek mediation through the family before turning to courts, the patriarchal leanings of many male judges, and the fact that in most countries a woman's testimony is worth only half that of a man in certain areas of the law."