RAMALLAH: Being a Palestinian means living in amid a chaotic clash of identities, rights, and values. We face unusual external forces that plunge our collective social norms into disarray. Our ability to recognize influential streams on our system of thought is severely compromised, and awareness is becoming knotted to dogmatic social structures that we fear to question. Has Israel's seemingly endless military occupation distorted our sense of reality? Or should we blame our tendency to fall back on culture and religion at the sight of almost any problem? In our attempts to seek liberation and secure our existence, should we not also consider emancipating ourselves from our own social shackles? As social media has revolutionized our mode of communication, it is interesting to observe opinions clashing, particularly regarding social issues. In this regard, a young lady, a foreign worker, recently called for a demonstration against the frequent sexual harassment girls, both foreign and local, endure on a daily basis in Palestine. Her call incited some anger towards the young lady, prompting accusations that she was imposing her “Western" ideology and creating a problem from nothing. Many have argued that the problem is not necessary the call for a demonstration, but rather the fact that a foreigner has initiated the campaign, implying that such a campaign should be initiated from local organizations and Palestinian feminists and women's rights activists. Yes, perhaps the call for a similar campaign should have been commenced by Palestinian feminist activists, but the chances of that happening are contingent upon a certain degree of social awareness. But these loud critics, despite their self-grandeur, do not represent an accurate sample of Palestinian society. The fact that many of the commentators were women suggests that Palestinian women are conditioned to automatically deny their oppressive conditions. The competing identities—woman and Palestinian, are both unrivaled in respect to oppressive conditions, and women are perplexed on how to direct their fight. If so many were committed to facing genderized social issues, why does Palestinian society remain blind to patriarchy? Since the advent of capitalism, the conjunction of authority with a falsely resonant concept of ownership incurred drastic consequences on many social aspects. Collective social sentiments became apathetic to diminished women and minorities' rights. The modes of production in capitalistic societies favor males. Female submission, therefore, is inherent; this further fosters the masculine egotism of societies struggling to survive, or as in the case of the Palestinian society–to merely exist. This submission involves anything from simple constrains of rights to core denial of women's sexuality, consequently making oppression a conditioned norm. Calling for a demonstration against incessant sexual harassment is not merely a denouncement of male adolescents who puff their chests and taut their inflated sense of masculinity; it is a strong rebuttal to treating feminine sexuality as something shameful. Our society has subconsciously been adopting concrete concepts that govern the dynamics of sexuality and emphasis gender division. Despite the stale objections, the evidence is embedded in our society's very foundation. For example, gender differences are being imprinted in the minds of young children during their school years. Gender roles are conditioned through school books, for instance, that clearly shows the woman in a submissive role. The result is generations of women in absolute ignorance and denial of their feminism, as well as generations of men unaware of their own feminism! This imposed capitalistic approach does not differ so much from the religious dogma, which glorifies virginity and sexual “purity" in order to subjugate women. In that vein, women's sexuality is nothing more than vulgarity. Sexual fidelity, on the other hand, is the sole socially-approved path, and it is used to control women through a set of defined cultural values not very different from the concept of ownership and private property found in capitalistic values. Men feel they own “their" women and relate that to their concept of honor and pride. Gender inequality is reinforced by our strict segregation from an early age. With that said, sexual harassment in the streets is not something to be dismissed as the delusions of self-righteous foreigners; it is a very real problem that some of us willfully ignore, and that others are simply blind to after a lifetime of social conditioning. According to a 2011 report issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), women constitute 49.8% of the Palestinian society—roughly half of the population. Yet their representation is not symmetrical. In politics, the parliament is 5.9% women, well below the collective average of all Arab states. In respect to education, far less women serve as professors or university researchers, despite almost equal number of degree-holders. On a more social aspect, child marriage, honor killing, and domestic abuse are widespread in the Palestinian society. Sexual harassment is only one of the innumerable barriers that stand in the way of Palestinian women. Too many women have to strive to be heard, and to live in fear, disgust and a state of self-hatred. Do not forget the many women working behind the scene, whose efforts too often go unseen. Now that Palestine has been recognized by the international community as a legitimate state, should we not struggle for gender equality? It is high time that we remember patriarchy does not only hold down Palestinian women but also Palestinian men. Then and only then, women, regardless of their nationality, can proudly and securely walk through the streets of Palestine. Najeeb Abu Al Etham is a 27-year-old pharmacist from Ramallah, Palestine. He studied at the University of Jordan. He is a regular contributor for BikyaMasr.com.
