Images and Reality: Palestinian Women under Occupation and in the Diaspora

Edited by Suha Sabbagh and Ghada Talhami. Institute for Arab Women's Studies, 1990. 66 pp. List: $5.00; AET: $3.00 for one, $5.00 for two.

Reviewed by Philippa Strum

The Institute for Arab Women's Studies hopes to respond to what Ghada Talhami correctly describes in the preface to Images and Reality as "the near-total silence in academia on the contributions of Palestinian women to the process of nation building" by publishing studies on Arab feminism in general and Palestinian feminism in particular. In this, the first of a projected series, it provides an excellent introduction to some of the problems faced by Palestinian women. Topics include the coverage of women in West Bank newspapers (Orayb Najjar), the transformation of the situation of women under occupation (Talhami), the education of West Bank women (Sarah Graham Brown), continuity and changes in Palestinian culture as evidenced in a song sung at a Palestinian wedding in Kuwait (Taghreed Alqudsi-Ghabra), and the particular quandaries encountered by Palestinian women in the US (Louise Cainkar).

Several themes, not entirely articulated, appear and reappear throughout the articles. The first is the indisputably patriarchal nature of Palestinian society, manifested in the sexist articles written by (male) Palestinian journalists, the readiness of rural Palestinian families to sacrifice their daughters' education for their short-term use as laborers, the willingness of Palestinian families in the United States to permit their sons, but not their daughters, to grow up "American," and the continuing control by men of the image of women as expressed in song.

A second theme concerns the effects of occupation upon Palestinian women. Talhami points out, for example, that Israeli tax laws, land confiscations, and political repression have led to out-migration of men, leaving many families headed by women. The difficult economic situation also has resulted in women joining the paid work force, but only as non-unionized workers. Consequently, they are exploited by their employers on Israeli farms and their Palestinian employers in the West Bank sewing factories.

Brown notes that the creation of five Palestinian universities in the occupied territories has made higher education a possibility for women (or did, before the Israeli administration closed all the universities at the beginning of the intifada). However, there are few jobs available for women (or men) graduating from the universities.

Both authors, and Najjar, mention the women's organizations that have provided a sense of self-empowerment for many women, as well as much-needed services and skills, under the occupation. But their articles reflect the limited effect these organizations have had on the thinking of men, and many women.

A third theme running through the first three articles is the relationship between the national liberation and the women's movements. As Talhami points out, women were organizing politically and acting as individual soldiers as early as 1929. However, like the newspapers that Najjar describes as coming into existence as a part of the national liberation movement, and as functioning as entities for political mobilization, the women's organizations have been widely regarded as extensions of the male-led drive for independence. Najjar identifies the party with which each newspaper is affiliated. None of the articles mention, however, that the basic units of the women's movement the post-1978 women's committees, a move in tandem with specific parties.

Secondary to the National Struggle?

The last point—the women's movement as secondary to the national liberation struggle—is one that could be made about any "revolution within the revolution." Eventual gender equality depends upon the difficult tactical decision to raise a feminist agenda—equal pay for equal work, equal right to education, equality in marriage and divorce, control over one's body—knowing that doing so probably will divide the national movement at a time when unity is crucial.

It is difficult to demand the right to work, for example, when male members of one's family are already embarrassed by the minimal income they bring home because land and water confiscation or quotas on produce have made much farming marginal, or because Israelis will give them none but the lowest-paying jobs, or because the local industrial sector lacks permits to build factories and start new businesses.

Many Palestinian women have insisted to this writer that "We will not be like the women of Algeria," i.e., we will not put our veils back on and return to our kitchens once the revolution has been won. As Talhami suggests, however, it is only a handful who recognize that once the revolution is over, new power configurations will already have been put in place. Unless women raise equality questions before that occurs, their greatest opportunity will have been missed.

Najjar's survey of local newspaper articles demonstrates persistent male conservatism about women's place. Praise is bestowed upon women acting as nationalists: demonstrating, organizing small economic projects, going to prison. Women who emulate men within carefully calibrated limits, such as receiving literacy degrees, are applauded. Najjar's survey indicates that the journalists are ambivalent about women in such non-traditional jobs as pilots, and yet she finds hope in the features they run about women engineers, doctors and pharmacists.

Returning to "Normal" Roles

Many men who applaud women's nationalistic actions, even when they take nontraditional forms, fully expect women to return to their "normal" roles once the political emergency is over. Other Middle East countries such as Turkey show that societal acceptance of an elite of professional women can be coupled with the firm belief that they are atypical superstars, rather than role models for the average women.

Other countries everywhere in the world (Israel and the US included) demonstrate another factor unmentioned in the articles: the assumption that women who take on nontraditional roles will continue fulfilling their "responsibilities" as housewives, for child care and as meal providers. Men are readier to accept a change in women's place if it means none in their own—a problem that the women's committees have yet to address.

Najjar suggests that Palestinian women should learn about the experiences of women with media elsewhere. Talhami mentions in her preface that Arab feminism can be understood only when it is analyzed in the context of the Arab world's sociopolitics. That Palestinian women need more knowledge of other women and that Western women need more awareness of the cultural context of Third World feminists is indisputable. Sooner or later, however, all feminist movements, from whatever world, must articulate and grapple with the ubiquitous phenomenon of women's triple oppression: political, economic, and social. Images and Realities is a good beginning.

Philippa Strum is a professor of political science at the City University of New York and was the founding president of the American-Israeli Civil Liberties Coalition. She is currently completing a manuscript on West Bank women during the intifada.