Ramallah – The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD) organized a discussion session addressing the draft of a study titled “Gender Responsiveness of Informal Justice”, at PWWSD headquarters in Ramallah. The organization commissioned Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) to conduct the study, as part of the project “Strengthening Women’s Access to Justice in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” implemented with funding from UN Women, through Sawasya (the UN Women/UNDP joint program – Strengthening the Rule of Law: Justice and Security for the Palestinian People 2014-2017). Representatives of governmental and nongovernmental institutions attended the event, along with women’s grassroots organizations, feminist frameworks, judges, lawyers, as well as feminist, political, and community leaders.
The study aims to analyze the informal justice system’s responsiveness to gender in the West Bank, and to analyze the causes behind women seeking this system in relatively noticeable rates. It also aims to understand the practices and procedures pushing women away from formal justice to informal justice frameworks, and the multidimensional social, economic, political, and cultural factors related to seeking formal justice.
Project Coordinator, Hana Qaisi noted that the overall policies, procedures, and laws issued by the Palestinian National Authority, and ratifying CEDAW in particular, should be reflected in real life to combat gender-based discrimination in all political, social, and economic fields. It is necessary to formulate a unified political will to confront negative perceptions stemming from a patriarchal heritage and inadequate laws and legislation governing family relations. These factors have contributed to enforcing social constraints and complications in the path to justice, and to strengthening a stereotypical image of women’s roles and status based on their reproductive role. This has led to ignoring women’s civil issues, and detracting from their basic human rights, pushing many women to seek traditional judicial powers in the family (informal justice) to resolve their issues, whether familial, related to so-called “family honor”, or regarding inheritance.
The participants provided important commentary on the rule of law, adapting formal legislation according to CEDAW, the need to strengthen constitutional principles embodying gender equality, and developing the school curriculum, community culture, and the media to shift social discourse in favor of women’s rights.
It is worth mentioning that the session concluded with an agreement to publish the finalized study in late September-early October 2016.