Year 2001

Women, Work and Information Technology (IT) in West Bank
Women make up 49% of the approximately 2.8 million occupants of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Compared to the remaining Middle Eastern region, the adult literacy rate for women is quite high at 77%. Although participation of women in the labor force has risen with their increased education, women comprise slightly less than 15% of the salaried labor force in the formal sector. Therefore, women's participation in the labor force is still extremely low compared to regional and international averages.

The current Israeli crisis has led to re-thinking the strategy of dependence upon wage labor in Israel. There is an increasing awareness that creation of more high-tech jobs is necessary. To address this concern, there have been attempts at producing alternatives such as "industrial parks" within Gaza and West Bank. In order to be effective in attracting women into these positions, job training and re-training strategies need to be geared toward women at different stages of their life cycles (new graduates, married women returning to work, widows, etc.), and target the differential work and educational experiences of women.

Opportunities and Challenges for Women in IT
In employment, approximately 80% of women in the formal labor force are found working in services where more than 40% are working in education, health and social work. While education is important for female labor force participants, and a strong correlation exists between higher education and women's access to formal employment, it should be noted that educational attainment is not the entire solution to women's increased access to employment. Economic and cultural barriers may be just as predictive of women's employment patterns in this region.

Job programs should target new graduates to prepare them for initial entry into the labor market as well as to sustain them in finding and maintaining employment. These programs should include a full range of services such as career guidance, internships, continuing education training programs and job placement. Internship programs have been successfully undertaken by UNWRA and are proving to be extremely effective in gaining access for young women to work. This also gives them on-the job training and a head start when applying for work. Such approaches compensate for the social constraints placed upon young women putting them at a severe disadvantage when they enter into, and hope to remain, in the job market.

Lack of high-tech skills and inappropriate education are often cited as impediments to expanding women's integration into wage work in these professions. Middle Eastern women's access to, and use of, information technology is determined largely by their access to education and their socioeconomic status in society. The cost of schooling, the tradition of early marriage, norms prioritizing the family over education and a career for women continue to constrain girls' and women's access to education.

Beyond the basic education needed for access to IT, women with specialized skills for these careers are drawn from vocational training programs, colleges and universities. Women are becoming better represented in vocational training programs in the region, yet they tend to pursue training in commerce, services and manufacturing rather than in industry or engineering. However, middle class and elite women are gaining advanced degrees in greater numbers rendering a larger untapped labor pool.

Current State of Palestinian Development and IT
Since the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords in 1993, the challenges of reconstruction, let alone development, have been central to the Palestinian agenda. The Palestinians realize they must reverse the long-term neglect and destruction of their infrastructure resulting from twenty-seven years of Israeli occupation. Moreover, they must rebuild and expand their local economy. Among the development needs identified by the Palestine Authority (PA), is a modern communication system.

No doubt, Palestine must strengthen its infrastructure including its telecommunications' system. Currently Patel (Palestine Communications Industry) has been awarded a 15-year government contract to help rebuild both its mobile and stationary communication systems. This would lead to creation of jobs in the telecommunications industry where women could be employed.

According to the World Bank, because Palestine is without natural resources, its best chance of expanding and strengthening its economy would be to develop intellectual property and liberalize its trade policies. This recommendation includes less reliance on Israel, the development of more trade with other regions and the creation of more high-tech and manufacturing jobs within Palestine. This, of course, would render Palestine with a better and more self-reliant labor force capable of creating more high-tech employment opportunities for women.

The following publications were referenced in this report:

• Women's Issues -- Third World. The Status of Palestinian Women (09/12/00). Cancel, M. (2000). (www.worldbank.org)
• World Bank Report January 2001. Poverty in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (www.worldbank.org)
• Integrating Women into Wage Work in Palestine: Obstacles, Strategies and Benefits Rema Hammami Women's Studies Program Birzeit University
• The Reconstruction of Palestine: Urban and Rural Development, ed. A. B. Zahlan. (2001)
• Hammami, Rema. 1997. Labor and Economy; Gender Segmentation in Palestinian Economic Life. Palestinian Women: A Status Report. (4). Women's Studies Program. Birzeit University.
• UNWRA (http://www.unrwa.org)
• AED Report -- Women in MENA (2001) (Cisco Systems)
• Abu Nahleh, Lamis. September 1996. Gender Planning, Vocational Education, and Technical Training (VETT) in Palestine. Women's studies Department, Birzeit University.
• Women's Affairs Technical Committee (http://www.watc.org)
• Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Education, 1999. Education Statistical Yearbook 1999. (www.pcbs.org)