"Dorek": Palestinian women's political renaissance

Women’s public and prominent role in the political and publics spheres have been central to our work since our founding in 1998. Leading up to the 2018 local elections, we decided to take our groundbreaking approach into the field of local politics. For the first time in Arab society, many women have access to the training and tools necessary to be active in campaigns and councils.

This project is critical because women only hold 0.12% of council seats in Palestinian municipalities. Women must hold positions of power in local government in order to increase women’s status and society’s overall wellbeing by influencing education budgets, healthcare policies, transportation plans, and many other decisions. Current office holders are often men beholden to family and religious interests. We are building a groundbreaking base of women leaders who are independent and ready to bring Arab society in Israel into a vibrant and egalitarian political future.

We decided to address problem on multiple levels: both nationally and locally, both preparing women to run and preparing society to accept their candidacy. On the local level, Kayan worked with four women’s groups to provide them with the skills to campaign. In three of these towns, women from the groups started their own political lists or, in one case, joined another political party. In the town of Ossifiya, this was the first successful all-women political party list in Palestinian society in Israel. Kayan also supported these women to change the culture around women’s participation in politics by planning and implementing public information campaigns, including videos.

On the national level, grassroots women’s assembly, the Jusur Forum, supported the effort with a campaign called, “Dorek,” the Arabic term meaning “your turn.” This campaign showed the faces of women political leaders, which changed the discourse around women’s role in elections by showing them as visible parts of the political world. It encouraged other grassroots women to step up and take “their turn” in the political sphere. A Jusur Forum leader, reflecting on their success, called it, a women’s "political renaissance.”

Two women were elected to local council from groups to whom Kayan offered support: Ayesha in Arabeh and Samira in Ossifiyeh. In both cases, women from their groups mobilized behind them. Samira is already looking at how to use her position to increase the participation of women on local committees.

With the momentum that we built, it is essential that we continue to work towards changing culture. We are going to hold workshops to continue building women’s political skills. We are supporting the women in local councils and are intending to build a national forum of women councilors to offer mutual support, as many women councilors feel isolated and unsupported. We will continue media and social media campaigns that raise women’s voices in politics. We thank you for joining us as we enter this exciting phase of our work on supporting women in politics.

Links:

• Social change campaign video created by grassroots women
• Social change campaign video created by grassroots women
• Social change campaign video created by grassroots women