«Electoral Issues», episode six with the Central Elections Commission: women's electoral rights between principle and practice

Dr Khitam Abu Odeh said the absence of any woman at the leadership of any Palestinian party, the low rate of women's participation in the National Council (11%) and in the council of ministers (14%), and the presence of 11 women ambassadors out of 90 ambassadors, is clear proof that men have dominated the senior positions at women's expense — although the share of females in Palestinian society is 49 per cent.

This came during the sixth radio episode of the Electoral Issues programme, titled “Women's electoral rights between reality and application”, carried out by Pal-Think for Strategic Studies within the activities and events of the project “Toward a society more aware of its electoral rights”, implemented by Pal-Think in cooperation with the Central Elections Commission within the project “Partnership with civil-society institutions 2021 / phase two”, funded by the European Union.

Dr Khitam made clear that societal culture, upbringing, and communal awareness stand as an obstacle before women's practice of their political rights — factors that have caused the rise of violence against women. She affirmed that the Palestinian woman has proven her worth in the positions in which she has worked, and stressed likewise that women enjoy absolute freedom upon entering the polling booth to choose the candidate.

For her part, the lawyer at the Aisha Association for Woman and Child Protection, Hiba al-Danaf, said during a telephone call that the latest laws grant 880 thousand citizens the right to take part in the electoral process or to stand — pointing out that raising the rate of women's participation in the elections to 29 per cent counts as a positive step.

She added: “Although women have proven themselves in work, there are only 16 per cent of them in the private sector, and the highest rates of unemployment and poverty are among women”.