Gaza's women bear heavy burden

By Ken Lee In Rafah, Gaza Strip

Women in Gaza face increasing violence

Married off at 17, Safah Radwan was destined to be a housewife like many other Palestinian women.

Then, a year ago, the whole family watched an Israeli bulldozer flatten their three-bedroom home. Israel has identified this area near the Egyptian border, where the Radwans and their eight children live, as a main smuggling inlet for weapons and drugs.

Now living in a converted storehouse, Safah, 37, and her husband, unemployed for the last three years, scrape by with donations and an unshakable faith in God.

"By nature a woman's heart is more tender, so I suffer mostly because I'm unable to fulfill my children's constant needs," she says.

"There's no interest for my husband to be in the house all day, so I'm the one they turn to."

Safah illustrates what academics and psychologists have long described as the "double burden" of Palestinian women - crushed between the Israeli occupation and the gender roles of Arab-Muslim tradition.

The more than two-and-a-half-year intifada has only exacerbated the problems of women, who face increasing domestic violence, anxiety disorders, depression and threat of honour killings.

Economic dependence

One of the most densely populated areas on earth, the 147-square-mile Gaza Strip is penned in by a 10-foot-high electrified fence and watchtowers.

Decades of economic dependence on day labour jobs in Israel have left Gaza - now almost completely cut off from those jobs - more impoverished.

According to the Gaza City-based Women's Empowerment Project (WEP), reported cases of domestic violence have increased by 154% since 1999.

In a recent WEP study of 120 randomly selected women, more than 60% said they were victims of violence in the home.

The intifada and Israeli attacks are a dual oppression for many women

Economic hardship was cited as a primary catalyst of abuse, aggravated by Gaza's soaring unemployment rate, now 56%.

"The men feel frustrated by the political situation so they project their anger on women and children," says WEP psychologist Hala Al Sarrag.

"Many also misinterpret the Koran, thinking it gives them justification to deal with women in any manner they want. They read one verse and forget the others that stipulate reverence and just treatment toward women."

One 38-year-old client, Fatmah Ieid (not her real name) was beaten by her husband from their first days of marriage.

One night, she ended up in hospital with a broken right leg.

Constant in-home violence led Fatmah to develop major depression and symptoms of psychosis. Tests revealed the latter was the result of brain trauma: She had been slammed head-first into a wall.

Yet tradition dictates that a woman should tolerate her husband's behaviour, and see to the proper raising of their children.

Because of this, Fatmah still lives with her man and recently gave birth to their 11th child. The abuse continues.

Clients' records from the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP), reveal that post traumatic stress disorder - severe emotional shock resulting from house demolitions and night raids, part of Israel's crackdown on militants - has leapt more than six-fold among women since 1999.

Among men, PTSD cases during that same period doubled.

Female cases of depressive disorders outnumber males by an average of 58%; depression in females has risen by 20% since the start of the current conflict.

Patriarchal customs

Samir Quota, a psychologist and research officer, explains that although women are less exposed to political violence than men, they are more vulnerable to psychological illness.

Centuries-old patriarchal customs keep Palestinian females largely confined to their homes.

"While males can go out and be active by demonstrating or even resisting, women have no means for catharsis," Quota says.

Perhaps the most extreme example of women's double oppression is the occurrence of femicide - murder, attempted murder or threats against a wife or female relative in the name of restoring family honour.

A woman's chastity is considered sacred, and men will go to great lengths to avenge its violation, from infidelity, premarital sex or rape.

According to the WEP, there were six reported cases of femicide in 1999; in 2001 there were 11. Dozens more cases are thought to go unreported each year.

Meanwhile, women like Safah represent what psychologist Quota says is a large, unaccounted for segment of Palestinian society: those who develop coping mechanisms against psychological affliction because of strong personality traits, religion or extended family support.

Such emotional stamina, however, will never erase Safah's profound sense of loss.

"There's a deep sorrow and sadness I feel which I will never forget even beyond my old age," she says, seemingly oblivious to the rattle of heavy-caliber gunfire just outside her door.

"But our situation is in God's hands, thanks be to him, so he will not forget us. This is our fate."