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Valuing Women’s Work Conference Statement: The value of all women’s work deserves to be recognized, fairly measured and invested in as part of the economy

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Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory

21 March 2023

The Valuing Women Work Conference, organized by Oxfam, UN Women, GIZ, Care International, and other civil society organizations, was held in the Gaza Strip on 21 March 2023, in celebration of International Women's Day. The conference highlighted the importance of recognizing and valuing women's work and their significant contributions to society and the national economy.

Despite invaluable efforts exerted at the different levels, women in Palestine still face wage gaps, discrimination, systemic inequality, injustice, and undervaluation of their work; unemployment rate for women in Palestine is 40 per cent compared to men which is 20 percent1, and 32 per cent of women work in the informal sector2. The actual impact of women in the economy remains unrecognized and devalued, although women’s average participation in the labor market currently stands at 19 per cent, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

The conference brought together experts from the fields of economics, gender, and human rights, to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing women and the gender inequality in the economic system within the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) in two of interactive panels and discussions over the course of the day. “All of us, whether we represent the authority, governments, the private sector, local organizations, international or local organizations, we all have a role to play in discussing and moving forward on policies to improve the recognition of those who do the unpaid care work. We all have a role to play within our communities to combat the negative perception and the traditional thinking around the role of women,” said Shane Stevenson, Oxfam’s Country Director in the oPt.

Speakers shared their insights and experiences explaining the current situation of women within the formal and informal sectors, focusing on aspects of all-women work that need to be recognized and understood better to enable us all to comprehensively value all women’s work.

Currently, 29 per cent of women workers in the private sector in the oPt are paid a monthly salary less than the minimum wage (1,450 shekels)3. The current wage gaps were amongst key priorities that were debated during the conference, in addition to the recognition and valuing of women’s unpaid domestic and care work, the role of men in sharing care responsibilities as well as the necessity of investing in social infrastructure like healthcare and childcare. “The time spent by women in care efforts affects the pattern of participation in the labor market, and this returns to their labor income and their possibilities of affiliation to Social Security. The unequal distribution of women care work translates into women’s time poverty, and largely explains the gender gap in labor work insertion where only 19 per cent of women participated in the labor market in 2022, compared to the 71 per cent for men,” said Maryse Guimond, UN Women’s Special Representative.

Some of the featured panel discussions addressed topics such as closing the gender pay gap, promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and supporting women entrepreneurs. The discussion was ignited considering the results of “Gender Gaps Analysis Study” which clearly showed that gender inequality is the most significant obstacles to sustainable growth and development in the oPt, and is premised on the notion that existing policies, practices, ideas, and beliefs devalue women’s capacities and contributions.” 4

According to a study by UN Women (2022), women in Palestine spend approximately eight times longer on unpaid care and domestic work than men.5 While recognizing that care and domestic work is central to human and social well-being; this includes looking after children, the elderly, and those with physical and mental illnesses and disabilities and daily domestic work like cooking, cleaning, washing, mending, and fetching water and firewood.6 However, women usually carry out these activities without recognition or compensation despite restless work, by Oxfam and its partners, to bring justice to women in formal and informal economic sectors that would pave the way for women empowerment on all fronts.

The conferences’ interactive sessions represented networking opportunities where attendees connected with other women in the industry and built relationships to help them advance in their careers, to bridge a gap to better value women's unpaid care and domestic work and recognize women's significant contributions to the economy and society.

Based on recommendations by the attendants, the conference organizers are working on building coalitions and collective movements that advocate and lobby for women’s rights, while recommending that government, PA, private sector, civil society organizations and Unions to work immediately for policies to reduce the gender pay gap, including provision of paid parental leave, promotion of women's representation in decision-making and leadership positions.

3 Care Policy Score card, Oxfam (2022)
4 Care policy scorecard, Oxfam (2022).
5 An economic analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the Palestinian economy - UN Women 2021
6 Feminist Economic Analysis of Covid-19 Impact on The Palestinian Economy,” UN Women (2019).