Prioritizing Gender Among Palestinians in Israel: Establishing a Gender Unit at MADA

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Prioritizing Gender Among Palestinians in Israel: Establishing a Gender Unit at MADA (Arab Centre for Applied Social Research)

IDRC Project Number: 103852

Project Timeline: July 2006 – January 2008

IDRC Budgetary Contribution: 160,500 $CAD

Background

Palestinian women and girls account for over half of the Arab population, which comprises approximately one fifth of the Israeli population. Arab-Israeli women are systematically denied their political, economic and social rights. There has been little focus placed on Arab-Israeli women by the Israeli government, by the Palestinian Authority, or by international donors. Palestinian women are marginalized on three fronts: as women in Arab society, as women in Israeli society and as Palestinians in Israeli society. The void in research, dialogue, and advocacy for Palestinian women in Israel persists despite the need for approaches based in critical, postcolonial and feminist perspectives. Increasing evidence-based research on Palestinian women in Israel could strengthen advocacy for improved policy. Furthermore, there has been no attempt to consider Palestinian women in Israel as a potential force for social change in both Palestinian and Israeli societies.

The Project

The Arab Centre for Applied Social Research (MADA), an eminent research and advocacy organization, aims to strengthen its capacity for research and advocacy on behalf of Palestinian women in Israel. Building on the interest in gender research generated by the Gender Pilot Project, funded by IDRC, this grant will support the establishment of a sustainable gender unit at MADA.

Objective

The overall objective of the study is to empower researchers to apply Palestinian, critical, post-colonial and feminist perspectives to the study of Palestinian women's realities inside Israel, to advance Palestinian women’s rights, needs, and aspirations and to challenge the dominant discourse and policies in Israeli and Palestinian societies and internationally.

The specific objectives of the project are as follows:

Articulate a strategic plan for the Gender Unit.
Establish collaborative relationships with feminist researchers locally, in the Arab World, and internationally.
Build a diverse and capable leadership team for the Gender Unit and engage them in strategic and innovative planning.
Sponsor gatherings that generate broad input into and support for the direction of the Gender Unit.
Produce useable research for the academic and advocacy communities within Israel.
Develop specific proposals to IDRC and others for research to be conducted in subsequent years.

Methodology

MADA will conduct an intensive community mapping of all women's research and advocacy institutions to identify their particular niche. This mapping will result in a published report on the status of Palestinian women's research and organizing within Israel. In addition, MADA will establish a steering committee comprised of academic researchers and NGO activists that will develop a strategic vision and plan for the Gender Unit, which will be used as the basis for a wider consultation with regional and international gender experts that will gather at an international conference organized by MADA.

Additionally the Gender Unity will oversee the development of detailed plans and funding proposals for the next 2-3 years, including specific objectives, methods, budgets, staffing, and evaluation mechanisms for:

The development of an active community of gender scholars in Israel;
A high quality lecture series highlighting the work of local and international gender scholars;
An intensive training program in feminist research and writing for junior researchers;
Distribution of research funding and research outputs focusing on Palestinian women in Israel;
Articulation of an advocacy model and/or partnerships with advocacy organizations;
An international student exchange program that strengthens international connections and provides global context for Palestinian research; and
Contribution to MADA projects including “Archiving a Silenced History,” which will conduct oral history and collect historical items.

Expected Outputs and Outcomes

In addition to the expected consolidation of the Gender Unit to maximize impact and ensure sustainability for the long term, this project will also result in:

A published, annotated bibliography of Palestinian women's organizations in Israel and relevant research institutions that is based on extensive community visits.
A published, annotated bibliography of literature relevant to the study of Palestinian women in Israel.
A strategic plan for the Gender Unit that builds on input from the Steering Committee and meetings held at the international conference.
Funding proposals to IDRC and other potential donors for research to be conducted in subsequent years.
An international conference to "launch" the Gender Unit by presenting the studies generated from the junior scholar seminar and to convene key people to provide input into the strategic plan.
A publication composed of research articles authored by junior researchers who received scholarly training from the Gender pilot.

Project Leader

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian | Project Leader

Arab center for applied Social Research (MADA AL-CARMEL)

PO Box 9132 | 51 Allenby Street | Haifa | Israel 31090

Tel. 972-4855-2035 | Fax. 972-4852-5973 |www.mada-research.org |NoraLesterMurad@rcn.com

For more information Please contact:

Emma Naughton

Senior Program Specialist

Peace, Conflict and Development / Gender Unit

International Development Research Centre

Email: enaughton@idrc.ca