Unemployed Palestinian women must have outlets for their abilities, says MP

The UN-funded toy-making project Zayna Cooperative Society empowers women socially and economically in north Gaza on 20 December 2018 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

The head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege of Gaza has said that with unemployment among Palestinian women standing at 80 per cent, they must be given outlets for their abilities. Jamal Al-Khudari MP made his comments in a statement issued on International Women’s Day.

He explained that the suffering of Palestinian women is double that of others, and yet they continue giving and sacrificing. Israeli policies, he added, continue to affect Palestinian women disproportionately.

“Palestinian women take care of their husbands and children while suffering from the effects of the Israeli siege in Gaza, Israeli settlements and the apartheid wall in the occupied West Bank, and detention and deportation in occupied Jerusalem.”

Al-Khudari reiterated the importance of getting Palestinian women engaged in political life. “Women’s participation in the Palestinian elections is important,” he insisted. “We have seen several success stories involving women at the political and national levels.” The veteran politician wants to see many more.

PHOTOS: 50.2% of Covid-19 cases in Palestine are females

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.