Women Employment Situation In Palestine:

· Most of the business occupied by female in in the Palestinian labor market is traditional
(female sectors), such as agriculture, sales, administration, sewing, and beauty-related
businesses. This is in contrast to male graduates who were spread around all sectors, even
the beauty-industry. It is worth mentioning that their presence was more apparent in
construction, industry, and services related professions.
· Labour market always showed willingness to employ women, indicating increase in
enterprises employing females. Employers attitude towards their willingness or
unwillingness to employ females were related to:
o The field of work of the enterprise and types of customers.
o Employers’ attitude to suitability of jobs along the traditional views of gender
division of labour.
o Employers’ stated preferences were also due to women’s skills in marketing and
their accuracy in performing their tasks.
o Employers also stated other reasons for their preference including lower pay than
male counterparts.
· In addition to the above, employers from non-traditional fields (carpentry, mechanics, and
metal works) indicted their willingness to employ women. This has been tied to
developments in technology and the use of computers and design in their field, for example
in Auto-CADdrawing in carpentry.
It highlights the importance of raising community awareness regarding women’s roles and
abilities, and the importance of adopting the appropriate laws, policies and monitoring
mechanisms to ensure its’ implementation. Moreover, it highlights the importance of increasing
women integration in vocational training and education in all fields and especially the ones
demanded by the labour market.