«Young Creations», episode ten: feminist studies

The lawyer Heba al-Danaf said: “Custody is a right of the child in custody, and rests on achieving their greater interest. There are many studies that say the greater interest of the child in custody is achieved by the mother and not the man.”

This came during an intervention of hers in the final radio episode of the programme “Youth Creations” — broadcast on the local Zaman radio — which discussed two research papers: on the personal-status law's observance of the mother's interest for her child at the age of custody, by the researcher Yasmin al-Duraimli, and the role of feminist studies in forming feminist awareness, by the researcher Sahar Labad — within the project “Research studies in gender and feminism”, implemented by Pal-Think for Strategic Studies with funding from the Government of Canada.

Al-Danaf added: “The paper came after the researcher's experience with her own child, so she wanted to shed light on women's suffering related to child custody, and to show the forms of discrimination in the law concerning the custody law between man and woman.”

She pointed out that the articles concerning custody according to the personal-status law are tied to service and care without taking the other matters, such as the psychological and emotional side, which is the most important.

As for the second paper, Ms Heba al-Danaf said: “The paper examines the role of feminist research studies in forming feminist awareness, and it is a quality paper, counted a reference paper in the studies of the specialisation.”

For her part, the researcher Yasmin al-Duraimli said: “The paper sheds light on the necessity of finding solutions to activate the Palestinian child law and observe the child's best interest in the sharia courts, in a way that achieves the principle of equality and non-discrimination between children, male and female, in custody cases. The paper likewise aims at acquaintance with the personal-status laws applied in the Gaza Strip, and the importance of raising the age of custody and its observance of the child's best interest.”

She pointed out that the judge has a discretionary power through which he raises the custody age of young boys from the age of 7 to 9 years only, and young girls from 9 to 11 years.

The researcher affirmed that this age is insufficient for the growth of any child, given their need for women's service, according to the law.

Al-Duraimli continued: “There is a recommendation from the Supreme Judicial Council to the Legislative Council to raise the age of custody to 15 years.”

The paper likewise reviewed several examples of divorced mothers who suffered, along with their children, because of the custody law.

For her part, the researcher Sahar Labad defined feminism as a set of intellectual and philosophical conceptions that seek to understand the roots and causes of the differentiation between men and women, to improve women's situations and increase their opportunity in all fields.

She made clear that: “Feminist studies are diverse — among them research papers, policy papers, situation-assessment papers, and fact papers.”

Labad added: “All feminist research shares three fundamental principles: the adoption of feminist research methodologies — that the structure between males and females forms all the aspects of our social world, and the grasping that this structure (a way of organising society) weakens women's standing. Feminist research builds evidence with the participation of women and girls. And feminist research builds the ways in which the dynamics of inequality between the sexes intersect with other forms of social inequality such as age, religion, race, disability, and class.”

She likewise affirmed the role of feminist writings, especially research papers, in forming Palestinian feminist awareness.

As for the kinds of Palestinian feminist research writings, according to the researcher, there are academic writings issued by the universities, such as the university journals and conferences; communal writings issued by civil society institutions; and writings issued by the think tanks and studies centres.

Labad continued: “What is required of researchers when preparing feminist research: that they be of high culture, possess the correct methodology and the research instruments precisely, and have awareness of the legal frames of reference that count as support for discussing the research papers.”

The paper recommended the necessity of issuing a specialised periodical journal for the writings of feminist women researchers in Palestine, adherence to the narrative manner of writing, and the deployment of information and figures through explanatory illustrations.

The designations used and the presentation of materials in this programme entail no expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Government of Canada