Industrial work

Abstract

The significant movement of women into waged work outside the home has been one of the major changes in Palestinian society since 1967: now an estimated 10–20 per cent of Palestinian wage workers are female. Several factors have combined to bring women into work. One is the increasing need for money. The material standard of living and expectations have risen exceptionally fast, boosted by the incorporation of the occupied territories into Israel’s industrial and consumerist economy and by the explosion of oil wealth in the Gulf countries. At the same time the political and economic subjection of Palestinians keeps most of those in the territories poor. High prices and the low level and unreliability of men’s wages push women into seeking to earn wages themselves. Second, attitudes to women working are changing as the number who actually work increases and the educational level rises. Third and most significantly, Israeli industry and agriculture, needing the cheap labour of Palestinian women, have provided job opportunities, poor though they are, that did not exist before.