Encounters with Palestinian Women under Occupation

Bibliographic Data

ID12015256
AuthorsRosemary Sayigh (Rosemary Sayigh is the author of The Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries (London: Zed Press, 1979). She is at present engaged on a field study on the politicization of Palestinian women, made possible by a research grant from the Institute for Arab Studies, Boston., corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume10
Issue4
Pages3-26
Publication date1981-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Palestine Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0377-919X • E-ISSN: 1533-8614
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2307/2536386
OpenAlexW2145355624
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited1

At the beginning, anyone setting out to examine the situation of Palestinian women confronts a dilemma, both practical and ideological: the need to decide whether or not there is a problem of woman independent of the collective national problem, and what is the correct relation between the two. Any attempt to escape this dilemma leads either to a feminism that ignores the effects of Ottoman/British/Israeli oppression on Palestinian social/family structures; or to a sterile nationalism without social content. Current interest in the situation of Third World women has naturally had its effects in the Palestinian arena. After decades of media-starvation, Palestinians are suddenly being bombarded by journalists, film-makers, researchers, novelists, conference-conveners, all intersted in one topic: Palestinian women. Torn between their need for international exposure, and their. distrust of singling out any particular category (especially women) for the spotlight, Palestinians have responded with confusion. Invited to attend the Copenhagen Conference of July 1980 (the second in the UN Decade for Women), with Palestinian women tabled on the official agenda, the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) sent a delegation armed with data on the Case, but little on women. Whether this way out of the dilemma was due to a principled stand, or to insufficient preparation

Dilemma · Distrust · Feminism · Ideology · Media studies · Nationalism · Oppression · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society

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