Palestine: Fewer underage marriages, drop in illiteracy rates among women

Women are the breadwinners in approximately 11 per cent of Palestinian families, data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has released ahead of Women’s Day tomorrow.

Some 49 per cent of Palestinian society is female, the figures showed, making up 2.45 million of the 4.98 million population.

Women are breadwinners in 11 per cent of families; 12 per cent in the occupied West Bank and nine per cent in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Labour Force Survey Report for 2018 revealed. Poverty rates are highest amongst families with female breadwinners, the figures showed, with 54 per cent of families run by women in the Gaza Strip suffering living in poverty, and 19 per cent in the West Bank.

Overall, unemployment among women reached 51 per cent, compared to 25 per cent among men, including for those with high school diplomas.

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While the number of girls entering in to marriages under the age of 18 has dropped to 20 per cent, down from 24 per cent in 2010.  This compares to one per cent of males who marry as minors. The highest rate of underage marriage in the West Bank was found in Hebron which saw 38 per cent of marriages taking place with a bride who was under the age of 18. While Jericho and the Jordan Valley had the lowest rate of underage marriage at one per cent.

Overall, 64 per cent of women over the age of 18 are married, with only 28 per cent who have never been married, six per cent that are widows, and two per cent who have been divorced.

According to the General Census of Population, Housing and Establishments 2017, in the Gaza Strip 21,000 women had a disability (2.3 per cent of the total number of females), while 20,000 women have a disability in the West Bank (1.6 per cent of the total female population there). The data does not include the governorate of Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel in contravention of international laws and agreements.

According to the Labour Force Survey of 2018, only four percent of women with disabilities are in employment, compared to 21 per cent of men.

Despite the decline in illiteracy rates among women over the past decade, the figures showed that there is still a gap between men and women with four per cent of females being illiterate compared to one per of men.