Section Two: The society and the freedom of women

Despite the fact that Arab women have in the last fifty years obtained many of their rights, after long decades of struggle, there is still clear discrimination against her in many basic rights, such as the right to education and employment. In the Arab society we find out there are dominant powers that decide the level of freedom woman should enjoy in the society. In spite of the fact that woman nowadays can go out to work and receive higher education, still there are limits to this freedom. The fatherly authority tries to maintain its overall power on the woman.

1- Equal rights for the woman

This table shows the difference between males and females regarding the idea of women enjoying the same freedom men have. 14.7% males support that, while 20.3% females support it. 35% of the males disagree while 23.8% females disagree. These percentages reveal the feeling of females that their families should have restrictions upon them. Arab society gives males more opportunities to enjoy freedom, especially in education and work.

As for the location of residence, the highest percentage that supports a woman’s right to freedom is found in the city with 22.7%, then in the village 12.6% then the camp 8.6%. When it comes to disagreement, the classification changes completely; with 39.3% for the camp, 29.8% for the village and 27.1% for the city. In general the percentage of disagreement is higher than that of agreement. The position of woman is the worst in the camp, because of the difficult economic and political situation.

From the above table we find out that the level of education didn’t have much effect on people’s ideas towards the freedom of woman. We notice the higher the level of education goes, the higher the number of people who strongly support the idea. Still, there is strong opposition to the principle of offering women freedom as man, this is referred to the inherited culture that dominates in our society. Despite the spread of education in the society, few opportunities are available to women to share true freedom with man.

2- The right for women to join organizations of the civil society

From the above two tables we find out there is an increase in the percentage of support for women to work or join activities of the civil society organizations. This increase is based on the bad economic circumstances that we live in, therefore, we observe a break to the traditions and boundaries that are forced upon women. The highest percentage for that exists in the camps (35.7%). The percentage of males who strongly support, and somewhat support, that is 63.7%, this is explained by the financial need. This, in turn, expresses a change in the values, as the going out of women for work is done on certain conditions, such as the wearing of the head-cover and gown. This is clear in the high percentage of people who support the idea that the veil and gown is the most appropriate outfit for Palestinian women, especially in the refugee camps.

From what has been mentioned earlier, it is clear that there is very strong opposition against the freedom of women, and her going out to work, and her activity in the civil society organizations. ‘Honor’ is a social value that is defined and measured by dominant powers in the society, especially men, who only give women a narrow margin of freedom.