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Palestinian women face daily battle<br>
by <br>
Tuesday 08 February 2005 10:16 AM GMT <br><br>
<img src="http://english.aljazeera.net/english/dialogbox/printpreview.aspx?nroriginalurlNR/rdonlyres/C844002F-6A16-47ED-8BA9-1FBE93C2FD83/62980/CB5AB307A78941BDB977C0AB894D25AE.jpg" alt="[]"><b>Life
for Palestinian women living in the occupied territories is comparable to
an assault course as they face a daily battle trying to work to feed
their families, a report says.<br><br>
</b>A new report released on Tuesday documenting the role of Palestinian
women in the labour market released by the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has said that although generally well
qualified, Palestinian women remain on the margins of the labour
market.<br><br>
Within the current climate of mass unemployment and underpaid jobs, they
bear the brunt of the crisis, playing an essential role in the coping
strategies of their families and communities.<br><br>
The report discusses how factors such as labour market segregation keep
Palestinian women out of salaried employment, and features portraits of
women working within Palestine.<br><br>
The new
<a href="http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991221250">Trade
Union World Briefing</a> underlines how labour market segregation
penalises Palestinian women who remain largely concentrated in the
industrial zones, domestic work, and primarily, agriculture - a sector
where the work they do is often unpaid.<br><br>
"This is our first study on Palestine which involved months of
research on the ground (scanning for interviews, analysing the situation
in Palestine, developing contacts) prior to and following our mission
there," Barbara Kwateng of ICFTU told Aljazeera.net <br><br>
"Our mission for this report started in January 2004. We engaged a
local researcher to update information - some interviews were conducted
after the mission (last summer) and the report is only being launched
today."<br><br>
<b>Escape from poverty<br><br>
</b>Curfews, roadblocks and border closure which characterise the
occupation have led to the bankruptcy of various industries traditionally
employing women, such as the textile sector.<br><br>
As a result, the majority of Palestinian women have turned to some kind
of home-based employment in an attempt to escape poverty.<br><br>
The Palestine's General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) general
secretary, Shahir Said, said: "The most pressing need for workers is
the ability to reach their workplace, so that they can bring home the
bread and milk to feed their families.<br><br>
"The Israeli secret services have themselves admitted that no
Palestinian worker has ever been involved in a suicide
bombing."<br><br>
<b>Unofficial work<br><br>
</b>But the work done at home is not considered official, is not
protected by any laws, and does not provide them with a proper
salary.<br><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=2><b>"How can we defend them
(Palestinian women) when they are not considered as genuine workers by
the law?"<br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>"Because they are the first to lose their
jobs, women accept deplorable working conditions, making pickles, for
example, or other food products in their homes.<br><br>
"But how can we defend them when they are not considered genuine
workers by the law?" explains Abla Masruja, women's coordinator of
PGFTU, an ICFTU affiliate.<br><br>
<b>Negative trends<br><br>
</b>In addition to discrimination in the labour market, they also have to
cope with negative trends in Palestinian society - for example, the rise
of conservative ideas and the upsurge in early marriages arranged by
families who, driven by mounting poverty, are anxious to be freed of
mouths to feed.<br><br>
Those women employed outside the home all-too-often carry the burden of
moral disgrace, a factor deterring others from even looking for work
after leaving school.<br><br>
Zahira Kamal, Palestinian Authority's minister of women's affairs, said:
"It is not for lack of education that they are not working. It's a
question of mentalities and attitudes."<br><br>
At the end of secondary school, 80% of the best pupils are
girls.<br><br>
"Many young women don't even apply for a job when they finish their
studies. In such a context there are no development returns on the
investment in education.<br><br>
"Disapproval of women's work, even in the absence of a male
breadwinner, is a major obstacle in the way of women seeking salaried
employment," Kamal added.<br><br>
<b>Family commitments<br><br>
</b>The young women who do nonetheless enter the labour market often see
their careers come to an end when they have children, such are the
difficulties in combining work and family responsibilities, given the
appalling lack of childcare facilities.<br><br>
<br>
"For all women, it is a daily battle to meet the basic needs of the
family. Getting to work, to school with the children, to the market, to
the hospital or to the houses of friends and relatives ... is like trying
to get round an assault course, with all the roadblocks and military
operations, Masruja said.<br><br>
While the election of Mahmud Abbas as president of the Palestinian
National Authority has brought new hopes of progress, the briefing
expresses the desire that women trade unionists from both sides of the
conflict might play a role in advancing the cause of peace.<br><br>
The ICFTU represents 145 million workers in 233 affiliated organisations
in 154 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a partner in Global
Unions.<br><br>
</font><div align="center"><font face="verdana" size=2><b><i><u>Fact
File<br><br>
</b></font></div>
<font face="verdana" size=1>The average Palestinian income is $1.70 a
day<br><br>
</font>The average salary of women in the textile industry is $130 in the
West Bank and under $78 in Gaza<br><br>
<font face="verdana" size=1>Women account for less than 12% of the
Palestinian labour force, despite having an average of 13 years'
schooling<br><br>
</font>Sixty-six per cent of Palestinian women workers are employed in
the informal sector<br><br>
Women heads of family rose from 7% in 1997 to 11% in 2003<br><br>
The poverty rate of households in which the woman is the breadwinner is
1.3 times higher than that of households where the man is head of the
family<br><br>
</u></i><font size=3><b>Aljazeera<br>
By <br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C844002F-6A16-47ED-8BA9-1FBE93C2FD83.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C844002F-6A16-47ED-8BA9-1FBE93C2FD83.htm</a>
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