Young women at the YWCA secretary school
Young women, who look like hostesses
in Lebanese music programmes (or like Arabic "spice girls");
young married women; young women who are covered with scarves and long
jackets and wear it all day and young veiled women who as soon as they
come to the "almost male free" YWCA, take it off, and reveal
a sense for fashion. You really get a glimpse of the diversity, of men
mostly hidden and of the culture of Arab women at the YWCA every day between
8am and 3pm!
At the secretary school there are young women from different levels of society, from villages and cities, from public schools and private schools, from conservative and liberal backgrounds, Christian and Muslim. They might look very different, and the age range is wide - between 17 and 30 years old, but it does not seem to influence their ability to have fun. The talking volume during breaks at least indicates that they get along just fine.
The YWCA secretary school has been running for many years, and has gained a strong reputation in corporative businesses and NGOs in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Not least is the "YWCA-girls" known for their strong English skills. Accounting, computer lessons and so forth is also a prominent part of their education. The YWCA however wants more than their students having top grades, and factual skills. The most important subject at the curriculum is named "life-skills".
"Life skills" train the students in Human Rights, especially Women's Rights; in democracy; in Palestinian culture and history and in building up self-confidence. The purpose is to give them strength and knowledge, to be good citizens and take an active part in society and to help them not to become victims in a male dominated society.
Two weeks ago, there was a YWCA workshop . Some of the students' answers to questions show that they are, indeed, strong and opinionated. They were asked: "If you have unlimited power, which changes would you bring about in your life?" They answered:
- (On spare time): Establish clubs; establish more sports activities; have more parties and celebrations; play music; and go camping.
- (On school): Cancel exams; change the student-teacher relation; and cancel the "you are late" notes.
- (On freedom and politics): Travel outside the country; get rid of the Israelis
- (On family life): Get rid of a lot of the traditions -especially those concerning girls: that they cannot be home late, that the family trust boys more than girls and so on. Get rid of all men! Kill my mother-in-law . . .
The impact of the Intifada on the YWCA secretary school
As many schools, the YWCA suffers from the current situation.
One of the outcomes of the Intifada is that it has become difficult and dangerous to travel in the West Bank. There are checkpoints between every city and many also to the villages. The YWCA used to have students coming everyday to Jerusalem from Hebron (distance: 35 km's), Jericho (39 km's) and Bethlehem (10 km's) and many villages in the West Bank. They are all gone.
In the year 2000, more than 160 students started at the school, but after the outbreak of the Intifada on 28th September, many students dropped out. Only around 130 graduated this summer.
This year the YWCA only has 100 students in Jerusalem, and they are all from the city or the surrounding suburbs. In addition, they run an extension programme in Ramallah (15 km's to Jerusalem), to make it possible for women from this city to get an education. They have 20 students here. But still it is difficult for women to come from the surrounding villages of Ramallah.
The outcome of this priority is of course additional expenses for the school, and even with the branch in Ramallah they are not able to keep up the former number of students.
In the present circumstances, most students will not find jobs after graduation.
Theme: Young women, education and job opportunities
That the situation in Palestine is far from normal is highlighted through the fact that, compared to the rest of the Arab world and many other countries, women are very well educated . At universities there is almost the same number of men and women enrolled .
At the same time the situation is completely the opposite when it comes to women's participation in the labour force: "While the Middle East as a region shows the lowest levels of female labour force participation worldwide, from 21-25% of the working age female population, the rate in Palestine is even lower: below 12% since 1995".
Normally when you compare different countries, you will see that there is a strong correlation between women's level of education and their participation in the labour force. If women are well educated, they will also have paid work. Palestine, however, does not fit the general pattern.
In Palestine there is ten years of compulsory schooling , which means that among the younger generations there is full literacy. About 12,5 % of young women graduate from high school, and half of them succeed to graduate either from college or university.
In the following, I will try to explain why the Palestinians invest in education and why women, educated or not, do not earn a salary. While education is important for women's empowerment, likewise is work, and therefore the lack of work participation among women is a severe social problem.
Why are the Palestinians obsessed with education?
Palestinians comparatively are very well educated, and this has to do with history. Before 1948 most Palestinians were living of and from the land as farmers and peasants. Some families were extremely wealthy landowners, but then came what in Palestine is named "the great catastrophe": the establishing of the Israeli state. That created more than 750.000 refugees , of which many had legal documents of their landownership. These documents are still precious and well protected by the families, but the fact is that they lost their land - which means they lost their property, and have never got any compensation.
In 1967 it happened again. The original West Bankers, Gazans and East Jerusalemites came under occupation, and since then the Israelis have confiscated huge parts of the land for settlements and roads -again without compensation.
Investing in land and property has become a very insecure business, because you do not know if you loose it tomorrow. In such a situation, human investment is much better. Educating your children is a way of securing the family's future income. Nobody can take your education and you can also bring it with you in case you have to seek refuge again.
Families in Palestine therefore put a lot of energy and money in their children's education, including the girl's education, because it is the best investment nowadays, and gives you prestige. Those who have the means to educate their children do so.
This is the main reason for the high level of education among young women.
How does the Intifada affect education?
An often-overlooked problem of the first and second Intifada has been the closure of schools for extended periods of time. Many young Palestinians between 20-25 years old have lost years of education in the first Intifada from 1987 to 1993. Their basic knowledge in subjects like Arabic, mathematics and English is far lower than for students who are younger or older . These years, this age group is enrolled in vocational training, colleges or universities, and the pattern repeats itself. Often they cannot attend classes, because of closures, and many students have to give up for this reason. At the same time their basic skills is lacking. At the YWCA they experience that many girls cannot spell properly and that their English is really poor, compared to earlier standards. At Birzeit University some of the lecturers complain the current level among their top students are to be compared with the lowest in the classes a few years ago.
With the second Intifada another academically disadvantaged generation is created. 174 schools are completely closed, and 90.000 students are deprived from their right to education. Either because of school closure or road closure.
And how does it affect women's education?
The general economic situation is getting worse day by day. Many Palestinian families are struggling to make ends meet, because of very high unemployment rates. It is also affecting the middle class, who has traditionally focused on getting their children educated. People talk about the "newly poor".
Those who cannot afford school fees for all their children, often choose to pull out the young women instead of the young men. This is not necessarily because of the individual fathers being male-chauvinistic, but since males are the breadwinners in the Palestinian society, a man without education will be worse off than a woman without education. So if you cannot afford both, this is considered to be the least of evils.
Another impact of the Intifada is the danger on the roads. Many families find it too dangerous for young women to commute on their own, because of the numerous checkpoints and the settler violence.
The prospect of these developments is an awful setback for women empowerment in Palestine.
Young women and access to the labour market
That only 12% of the Palestinian women are in the labour market has several explanations. In the following I will focus on two of them: occupation and tradition.
The occupation
In many instances the Palestinian society has been deprived from a natural incremental development. A lot of the social issues that are dealt with along the way in other societies, and among them women's rights, are suppressed by the overall issue of ending the occupation. No matter whom you ask, Palestinians will say that the issue of the occupation is the main problem in the Palestinian society. The occupation affects everybody's life. All the energy in the political system and in civil society is directed towards a free Palestine and consequently less is left for women's issues. The plight of women is not at the forefront. This is not because women's issues are considered trivial, but because other things are considered even more important.
The occupation also means that there is no work. In the occupied territories the possibilities of establishing trade and industries is obstructed by the Israelis. Getting access to the international market is very difficult for this reason, and the farming industry is suffering. The Intifada has only worsened things. Palestinians, who used to work inside Israel, cannot access any longer. The main income generating industry in Palestine - tourism - is also completely gone
In many societies women enter the labour market when there is a lack of labour in society. In Palestine, even men with university degrees have trouble finding jobs suited to their qualifications. They work as waiters, taxi drivers . . . etc. It is therefore next to impossible for women to find employment when men, the typical bread winners, are already having such difficulties.
The tradition
In general, Palestine is a male dominated society, and even there are exceptions, in most families the young women are not nearly as free as their brothers.
To marry "well" is for many young women, the main prestige thing, and that also counts for some of the more educated. An unmarried woman is to be pitied. The reason for this is not that the young women are backwards, but for many getting a good husband is the only hope for some liberty and financial security.
Half of the young Palestinian women are married at 18 years of age, and half have their first child at 21. More than 10% are teenage mothers, and the average fertility rate is 6 children. However, with education, the age of marriage increases and the number of children decreases.
The current economic conditions increase the trend of young brides. Since people live at home until they get married, it is very tempting for poor families to marry away their daughters early, in order to have one less to feed. At the same time the grooms are getting older, because you need a certain financial status, before you can propose marriage. Many teenage girls dream of getting more freedom as married women than they have at home, but the some of them end up getting another "father".
Even many young women themselves are also having very conservative views on parenting and employment. When you ask the students at the YWCA if they think married women can work, they all say yes. When you then ask them if women with children should work, an overwhelming majority will say no. Not because it is difficult to find childcare, but because they think that mothers should raise their children.
Many women prefer not to work, and if they are uneducated and look for a job, it is only because their husbands' salary is not sufficient. For many men, it is embarrassing to have a working wife, as it is a sign of poverty.
The combination of economic hardship, the marriage traditions and the number of children, makes it very difficult even for strong and independent minded young women to break loose. At the time they reach maturity and start realising the limitations in their life, they are already married with children and can forget about fulfilling their own dreams.
Men and women are not treated equally in the Palestinian society, which becomes very clear from the fact that most women prefer to have sons instead of daughters. 10% of the women who already have four sons, would like to have four more. A mother of four sons would sooner have another son than a daughter
Working women
Out of the 12% working women, many (29%) work in agriculture, especially in the north of the West Bank . It is a traditional farming area and also an area where men, before the Intifada, worked inside Israel in large numbers, and therefore the women were the real farmers. Another large sector is education (26%). While education is a fulfilling, important and challenging job, it is also very low paid, which is probably why there is room for women. 15% are working in the industry, mainly as machinists, and the rest are divided in many different fields.
There are female lawyers, doctors, psychologists etc. - High profile and strong. They do not count for very many though, and very few of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Breaking loose from a conservative family is very, very difficult.
Quotes:
Girl at the YWCA secretary school (she says this almost daily):
"I really, really wish I was a boy"
Nadir from the YMCA (27) on lack of women's rights, and that people use 'tradition' as an argument for not giving women equal freedom and opportunities:
"This word 'tradition' - this is what keeps Palestine in the Third World"
Leila from the YWCA (on the increase in women who wear veils):
"I am a Muslim, and I grew up in Jenin (Muslim area). When I was young, hardly any women wore the veil. Only very old ones. Now almost all women in Jenin wear it . . . Palestinians did not use to be conservative, but because everything has failed for us, religion is the only thing left. Hopefully things will change, when we get our independence."
Concluding remarks
It has not been my mission to paint a grim picture of the Palestinians as deeply conservative and backwards. They are not. Traditionally Palestine was a comparatively liberal society, but they have been severely hit by grand politics, and this has twisted and stagnated their natural development. If Palestine had not been through 1948, 1967 and the events in between and after, it is most likely that the situation would have been very different for women.
No matter the reason, the fact remains that the Palestinian society is in strong need of women standing up for themselves and refusing this continuous oppression. The needs for a change in mentality, but also for additional services, like women's counselling, shelters etc. are profound.
Young women would like things to be different, which is highlighted by the statements of the "YWCA-girls". Unfortunately, their current possibilities for taking action for change are extremely limited. This week a father has decided that his daughter is no longer allowed to attend school, because he found out that she has a secret boyfriend. She is 19 years old, and cannot, at the moment, leave the house without his permission. These things happen, and they make many young women's lives miserable.
After the occupation, it should be the main priority for Palestinians to ensure that no longer will a girl say: "I really, really wish I was a boy".
Bente Pedersen, International YMCA-YWCA Observer in Jerusalem - November 27th, 2001