Avoiding issues

When Palestinian men have been challenged over their sexist and oppressive attitudes towards women, the answer has often been....."alright, we may be Marxists, but we are still part of this society" or "yes, but we've had harems for so many years, and have dominated women for that long, we can't just change overnight". Some tend to avoid the issue.

Leila Khaled described in her autobiography, My People Shall Live, how she had to sneak away from her parents' home in the night, still in her pyjamas, to attend a meeting. She was "blasted" by the men present for "violating" Arab decorum, and "polite, womanly behaviour". They wanted to pass a motion of censure or expel her! Even though this was 1959, it does show how deeply the traditions are implanted in the Palestinian people.

Palestinian women have often had to remind their male comrades that when the Zionists kicked them out of Palestine, they didn't distinguish between men and women; women constituted over half of the people, and they, too, were in exile. Men have often agreed to the theory of equality with women, but actual practice of this acceptance was much more difficult.

The slogan of Palestinian women is "the mobilization of a woman's capabilities and the intensification of her fight are fundamental supports to the national liberation and human liberation." Palestinian women are no longer engaged even temporarily, in performing nice, charitable tasks. There is no place now for organisations such as the Society of Arab Women, which was formed in 1910 to further girls' education, or for the Union of Arab Palestinian Women, which was founded in 1950 as a charitable society.

The GUPW was formed as a mass political party. The Palestinian women within it show an extremely high level of political awareness and activity. The Union has always maintained a firm stand on its independence and its alliance with the armed struggle. Palestinian women are united as never before, due to the work of the Union. This unity is crucial because the people are dispersed throughout many Arab countries as a result of the occupation. Branches of the Union have been established in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Kuwait.

The Union has been banned in Jordan. As reactionary Arab leaders are threatened even more by the liberation struggle, women's struggle will intensify. Palestinian women are organising on a very practical level, taking concrete steps to ease the burdens of the married women, who are handicapped by rearing large numbers of children at an early age. The Palestinian people are tied to institutions, over which they have no control. The young Palestinian woman is shackled with the status of refugee even more than the men.