Research Paper: "Palestinian Women Between Political and Economic Empowerment"

Introduction

The issue of empowering women in the political sphere and supporting their serious participation in political life has become a contentious issue, as it has not been sufficiently placed on the agenda of political parties and government institutions around the world, due to the prevailing social reality in some societies. The features of women's political participation stand out as a national demand, given that women represent half of society and cooperate with men in the affairs of life; accordingly, their political participation is considered one of the most prominent manifestations of democracy and the achievement of justice, which many conventions and treaties following the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have affirmed, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The study of women and gender constitutes one of the most important fields of the social sciences in the modern era, especially since it provides scholarly conceptions of women and their psychological and social makeup, and the challenges, obstacles, and crises they suffer from, with most studies focusing on the reality and the environment surrounding women from social, economic, and political aspects.

Palestinian women suffer from a set of crises and challenges related to the low level of their political and societal participation resulting from the repercussions of the continuing division, which has impeded democratic practice, and allowed functional, political, and union stagnation to occur in most institutions of the Palestinian political system; this has impeded women's access to decision-making positions. The decisive challenge facing Palestinian women lies in the absence of democratic life, which has limited their ability to play an influential role in Palestinian political life. Women also suffer from challenges in the labor market and rising unemployment rates, which reached 43%, as a result of numerous causes and factors. Amid the many challenges facing Palestinian women, this paper comes to provide up-to-date indicators on the reality of Palestinian women in the political and economic spheres.