"Dorek": Palestinian women's political renaissance

Kayan is continuing to support grassroots women who have gotten involved and are trying to get involved in politics and decision-making processes. We are in the process of starting the documentation of the experiences of women councilors. We have begun laying out the methodology and are holding meetings to start the full process. Look out for more emails from us to learn more about this project.

We have also started bringing ideas about women’s political participation to schools. During the campaign we held workshops at 8 different schools and institutions in multiple Arab localities. The students were excited and engaged in the discussions, giving us hope for that the next generation will choose to put women who care about their communities in leadership positions.

Also, the past few months at Kayan have been very eventful! We recently wrapped up an extremely intensive 16 Day Campaign of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. During the campaign we held over two dozen events and led a coalition of 15 Palestinian human rights and feminist NGOs. All of the events gave grassroots women a chance to lead. Several events held during the campaign gave us a chance to highlight women’s participation in politics.

During one particular event, Samira Azzam, Kayan activist and the first woman ever elected as a member of the Ossifiya local council, shared her story to a room packed with feminist activists and diplomats at the Swiss Ambassador’s residence. She shared her story of starting with her first engagement in a local Kayan group to her leading the first Palestinian women’s political list in Israel to victory in Ossifiya council elections. Samira emphasized that she couldn’t do it without Kayan and that “Supporting women means supporting women’s groups.” Her testimony to women’s leadership was extremely powerful.

The event at the Swiss Embassy also provided Palestinian women leaders the opportunity to engage with diplomatic leaders and share their communities’ concerns with them.

Thank you for being a friend and supporter of Kayan Feminist Organization. Please consider supporting Kayan today. Your support is especially appreciated as we work towards our end of year targets. Your donations help build a stronger, more feminist, more egalitarian, and more community-focused Palestinian leadership.