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.JPG)
The systematic violation of women’s rights is by no means an exclusive problem of the Arab Middle Eastern region and should not be rashly attributed to notions of culture or religion. Nevertheless, the extent to which Middle Eastern women are restricted in their life-choices, subjected to different forms of violence, and excluded from decision-making processes on all levels, is alarming.
Our Gender Democracy Programme aims to enhance the legal, political and social position of women, and improve opportunities for their participation in decision-making processes. Key focus areas of our work are issues of women’s empowerment and combating violence against women
Although some progress had been made in terms of the empowerment of women, the improvements have not altered the overall subordinate position of women in society and gender inequality remains entrenched in all aspects of life.
Violence against women has been identified as a major factor preventing women from defending and effectively exercising their human rights. Women have been systematically deprived of knowledge and skills that might better equip them to protect themselves against violence, such as knowledge of existing laws, religious texts, international human rights standards, and the demands voiced by the Arab women’s movement over the last decade. of the region has been exacerbated by the resurgence of conservative currents enforcing traditional attitudes that seek to limit women’s participation to their perceived ‘traditional’ roles. Discrimination is further reinforced within educational institutions, the media and the law, particularly the personal status laws.
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On the regional level we support projects aiming at changing gender images in the media. Journalists from Palestine and Jordan attended a meeting in Cairo-Egypt. The Palestinian participants are part of a special journalists' forum connected to the Women Legal Aid and Counseling Center in Palestine. The Jordanians are members of "Jana" network which is connected to Namaa. The meeting in Egypt was organized by ACT and concentrated on TV journalists.
Women for Cultural Development Society (Namaa) in Jordan continued with the gender training for journalists. A first training was organized with the help of a Palestinian trainer. It was a useful experience for the center and the journalists. Four more trainings were organized with the help of Jordanian trainers.
Center of Women's Legal Research and Counseling in Gaza organized a series of training workshops for women lawyers. The women lawyers who participated in the training were asked to conduct public meetings and counseling sessions for grassroots women, provide them with legal aid and increase their awareness of opportunities to overcome domestic violence.
In some cases we support publication of books which are important to civil society activists. The quota experience was documented and will be published in a book titled: “women’s quota in Palestine: a successful experience”. The aim of the project was to make this experience which is considered very important step by the Palestinian women's activists available to other Arab women activists
We support conferences that cover som debetable and/or contravertial issues. The Insan Center for Gender Studies at Al-Quds University in Palestine is planning to organize One-Day Symposium on "integrating gender & women's studies in the curricula". This symposium will bring together international feminist scholars, who teach Women's or Gender Studies or who incorporate these studies into other disciplines to present papers exploring topics of relevance that might included.
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We especially encourage non traditional and alternative ways of awareness building and influencing public opinions. To promote women's rights, gender equality and influence positive gender roles, Shashat will tour 3 films in 9 Palestinian universities and some community centers outside Ramallah. These screenings will be accompanied by discussants who will initiate debates about gender images and the role of women and men in the society.
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