Challenges of feminist struggles in Palestine in a post-pandemic context

The analysis of the impacts of the coronavirus in Palestine from a gender perspective makes it clear that the demands of Palestinian feminist activists and groups are even more important and urgent and enable to confirm that a phenomenon such as the pandemic cannot be addressed without recognising discrimination and pre-existing structural inequalities. In this case, it must take into account the oppression and violence resulting from the Israeli occupation and apartheid policies and from the dominant patriarchal system in Palestine, together with other specific variables that shape the lives and perspectives of Palestinian women and girls. Given the deterioration caused by the impact of COVID-19 in access to health care, economic insecurity and gender-based violence, and faced with women’s persistent exclusion from decision-making spheres (also with regard to the pandemic), some of the main demands of the Palestinian feminist agenda have gained relevance. It is an agenda under construction, articulated by the many different voices of the Palestinian feminist scene, and its main demands include the establishment of an effective legal framework against gender violence; the real implementation of the commitments made to equal rights and non-discrimination; the right to political participation, influence in decision-making and freedom from repression due to their activism; and the recognition of the interrelation between feminist demands and a liberation of Palestine, in which bodies and territory are intertwined.

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