Ibdaa Radio 194
Palestinian Women's Issues
http://157.22.130.4/data/collections/flashpoints/1581-20050422-Haneen---Maram-Final-Mixdown.mp3
(Haneen Mashal & Maram Fararja 6:32)

"The girls now are not like before. The life for women is different now than it used to be. Before, we used to stay home cooking, making bread, ___ [cleaning?], harvesting the land, and grinding flour. Now, the girls are studying in high school and the university and working as employees. We were not employees like they are today. Our life was in our home."

"Ismi Maram Faraja" "Wa ismi Haneen Mash'al" "My name is Maram Faraja." "And my name is Haneen Mash'al." This is my grandmother, whom we spoke to about the situation of women in Palestine. We are excited to bring you this piece so you can learn what the women think.

"I am a married woman with four daughters and two sons. This is Faizal ___. She ran in the election for a Palestine municipality last December. "When I heard about a women's group in the village, I joined, because I believe that women are equal to men. The women are half of the community. When I joined, I did not want to war against the men. I want my world to complement the men's world. In the beginning, I thought that the men thought that it was strange to have a woman in the election. Out of 13 total in the municipality, there were only two women and 11 men. This did not discourage me from my work in the election. Alhamdulillah (thank God), the women won four seats, and the men nine in the end."

"I do not think that this was a fair election. There should be an equal representation of women and men in the municipality."

"We are in a[n extremely?] male-dominated society. The men are fathers and brothers, and they control the community, not the women. When the man feels that he is losing control, he gets stressed. This is why there are problems between couples. It will take time for the men to realise that women can play a greater role in society."

This is Hamadi [Hanadi?], who works in Ibda with the Embroidery Project, which helps 40 women support their families in the camp. In Dahaysha refugee camp, the economic situation is very bad, and many families cannot find work. Hamadi gives these women materials to make embroidery work at home. When they are finished, they bring the embroidery work back to Ibda, where they are given a salary. Hamadi does not agree with the limited role of women in the community, and neither do we." ___ at first, we had some problems. We are not equal to the boys in many ways. For example, we cannot leave our homes at night. Sometimes, when we finish high school, we do not have the same chance of continuing our education at the university like the boys do."

"If the woman tries to study, work, and participate in the community." This is the daughter of Faizal ___. She agrees with us, as well.

Here are the dreams for the future of the women we spoke to. "I hope to return to my traditional village and to clean [?] the floors with a machine which is how I have learned now; and the girls would get an education to teach our work." *

"I want to help the women and children in ___ city to build a lot of things - for example, a women's centre. The children have no libraries, centres, clubs, or places to play because of the occupation. There are a lot of mental pressures, so we should focus our centres for the children to support them and help them develop their skills, and [to let] them enjoy their childhood and have some fun, which would release some of their stress." "I think that in the future, there will be equality between the women and the men, because people are becoming educated. Through education, they will understand this issue." "My ambition for the future is to be equal to the world, to study and to finish my degrees, to increase the consciousness in our community, and to raise our society to be more civilised and developed regarding the women. The more advanced societies have a different perspective on the woman's role in daily life." "I hope for the same thing: to develop the woman's place in all aspects of life and to have a more active position in society."

Kana m'akum Haneen Mash'al wa Maram Faraja mu'asasat Ibda' fi ___ Dahaysha fi Filastin.
I am Maram Faraja. And I am Haneen Mash'al, reporting for Ibda Radio 194 in Dahaysha refugee camp, Palestine.

* Transcriber's Note: You have to understand something. The woman who said this was very old. These are not the words of a young person who has been born in a refugee camp and whose mental images of "traditional village" are composed of her parents' and grandparents' stories and her own few visits to the old village. These are the words - the hopes, the dreams - of someone who was born and raised in that part of Palestine that was occupied by Israelis in 1948 during the Nakba. They invaded, occupied, slaughtered, and destroyed their way through Palestine, chasing people like this old woman from their beloved homes. And now she is expressing her ardent desire to go back home - this time with a more equal position for women in the society. One cannot help but pause and shed tears over this, as did I.