Origins
PWWSD, the Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development, was originally founded in 1981 as the Union of Palestinian Working Women Committees. In 2001, they officially registered as an NGO with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior under the name Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development. They are headquartered in Ramallah with offices located throughout the region. PWWSD believes that ending the Palestinian occupation and “establishing a full Palestinian democratic sovereign civil state” is key to the liberation of all women in Palestine. In order for women to gain true independence, they hope to eliminate all forms of discrimination, not just gender-based discrimination, and to teach women how to embody gender equality in their day-to-day lives and within their own communities. Because women’s issues are so closely tied to social, political, and economic issues, they believe that a “clear political will,” or self-determination, is necessary for true progress and the achievement of full citizenship rights for all. This progress must start first with individuals at the local level in order for progress to be made and for development to occur. PWWSD hopes to empower and mobilize women in the struggle for their own freedom and increase access to justice by improving the mental and physical health and wellbeing of women and girls. Furthermore, they work to combat gender-based violence and increase awareness of the broader issues which women experience in their daily lives. They work with various other local, regional, and global coalitions and organizations in pursuit of gender equality and a life without discrimination for all women across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They also believe that women’s rights are inseparably entwined with human rights. Thus, they follow several national and international laws, treaties, and conventions, which also take this stance. They work with all sectors of the communities they serve to create change for the whole community, not just for certain segments of it.
Relationship to the State and the Country’s Culture
The headquarters of PWWSD is located in Ramallah, and they run offices in Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem, Bethlehem, Gaza, Dura, and Yatta. PWWSD follows several national and international conventions and treaties including: the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 1988, Palestinian Basic Law, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CEDAW and International Humanitarian Law, and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. PWWSD is an active member in several local, regional, and global networks and coalitions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, such as the Palestinian NGO Network, the Arab Women Network, the International Union for Workers Education. PWWSD believes the that liberating women is connected directly with ending the Israeli occupation, and establishing a full Palestinian democratic sovereign civil state. Thus, their mission to create gender equality cannot be separated from the development of the state. The Israeli occupation negatively impacts women refugees, Palestinian women in Jerusalem who are getting thier residency revoked, the experience of women prisoners, and the Gazans’ access to health. PWWSD focuses on how the resurgence of patriarchy is connected to the occupation by emasculating the male population, which contributes to a compensatory assertion of patriarchy. The male is seen as the protector of women and the family, putting him in total control over a woman’s life and body. Their role is to disrupt the long-standing patriarchal traditions that keep women oppressed by working with local and national coalitions to teach women about gender equality, and equate women’s rights with human’s rights. By advocating for gender equality and resisting the Israeli occupation, PWWSD goes against two of the main challenges of the region.
Achievements and Drawbacks
Despite their somewhat challenging circumstances as a women’s organization situated in the center of Israeli occupation, PWWSD has a significant impact throughout various levels of activism. These levels include: the individual, which employs methods such as awareness raising and capacity building in order to educate women on their rights and subsequently increase their self-esteem and lobbying abilities; and the community level, which involves public activities and campaigning. Further levels include:
- institutional level, where women are encouraged to be involved in organizations within the Palestinian communtiy
- informative level, which advocates for the use of media to promote the issues on which PWWSD works and to increase accessibility to target groups
- psycho-social level, which uses services such as the PWWSD Counseling Program to help women overcome “the daily pressure imposed on them due to general circumstances”(http://open.cso-index.net/file/2016/06/PWWSD-Annual-Narrative-Report-2013-EN-200414.pdf). Each year, the PWWSD releases an annual report which discusses its main objectives and whether or not those objectives were reached for that reporting period. The most recent report from 2013 outlines how “within prevailing circumstances, PWWSD continued its performance, including increases in:
- women’s awareness of their rights and needs as interpreted in the increasing demand of the services by women
- women’s civic and political participation, increase in women’s involvement in lobbying and advocacy campaigns
- networking and coordination among civil society organizations in order to protect women’s rights and gender equality
- sensitivity of duty-bearers towards gender equality and women’s issues as interpreted in the presidential decree to endorse CEDAW within the Palestinian context
- participation in national activities
- women’s involvement in public life”
Despite these achievements, PWWSD still faces formidable challenges. Geopolitical and structural differences between the Israeli feminist agenda and the Palestinian one have created significant tension between female activists. Amal Khreishe, the General Director at PWWSD, emphasizes how the main challenges revolve around the weak relationship between NGOs and grassroots movements and the availability of funding. Political division in Palestine also results in the “polarization of social and labour movements”, making it difficult for much progress to be made and for policies to truly reflect the needs of Palestinian women.
Connection to Transnational Organizations
Members of PWWSD recognize that transnational agencies and organizations play a crucial role in advancing the goals of PWWSD. They emphasize in their public statements that local and national work that aims at eliminating injustices facing Palestinians in the occupied territories cannot be effective without the active participation of the international community. In a public statement that PWWSD released to commemorate the Nakba in 2017, PWWSD wrote a list of demands that suggest a failure on the part of the international community and human rights agencies in holding the Israeli government accountable for its human rights violations against Palestinians. These demands include holding the Israeli government accountable for its human rights violations since 1948, the year of the Nakba. PWWSD emphasizes that it is the obligation of the international community as well as the Human Rights Council, the UN Security Council, and the UN secretary general to “ensure Israel’s accountability to its obligations under International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Laws.” PWWSD also recognizes Palestinian refugees’ right of return and demands that Israel implement UN resolution 194, which states that refugees wishing to return to their lands should be permitted to do so at the earliest date possible.
PWWSD is a signatory to the 2005 “Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS.” Inspired by the South African Anti-Apartheid movement, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement was launched by 170 unions, refugee networks, womens’ organizations, and popular resitance committees. BDS works to end Israeli’s oppression of Palestinians by pressuring Israel to comply with international law. (https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds). Many U.S-based feminists such as Angela Davis, Judith Butler, and Chandra Talpade Mohanty see that their feminist vision for freedom to all marginalized communities and their vision for justice in Palestine are deeply interconnected. In 2014, they expressed their support for the BDS movement and their commitment to Palestinian human rights in a public statement: “We stand with the Palestinian community and with activists all over the world in condemning the flagrant injustices of the current Israeli massacre against the Palestinians of Gaza, the land, air, and sea blockade of Gaza; and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. We call for an end to U.S military aid, at more than 3 billion a year, for the Israeli state and its occupation. We recognize that all our struggles for social, racial, gender, and economic justice and for self-determination are deeply interconnected and can only gain strength and power from one another.”
