PALESTINE: Women Claim Their Legitimate Share

Women's legal status is weak in patriarchal Palestinian society. The right to inherit is an especially weak point not least when it comes to the inheritance of land. The EU has granted 5,6 mio. kroner to DanChurchAid's work to secure women their legal right of inheritance. Women's right to inherit is a matter of awareness for both men and women - and legal aid to women whose right of inheritance is threatened.
Library photo: Heine Pedersen. "

My brother feeds his children on ill gotten wealth.” Those are the words of a Palestinian mother from Gaza whose case to receive her rightful property inheritance has been stuck in the court system for almost ten years. This mother said: “Our brothers deprived my sisters and me of our inheritance rights. Our elder brother has our share. … Imagine, he is depriving us of our legitimate share.

Men are not the only ones denying Palestinian women their legal right to inherit property. Another mother from Bethlehem is fighting her own mother for her legally entitled inheritance. She said: “After the death of her father [my grandfather], my mother asked for her right to inherit [and she got it], but now she is restricting my right to inherit. I am insisting on asking for my share of the inheritance as it is my right”.

The inheritance of property

Despite religious laws and legal allowances in place for Palestinian women to inherit, most are still not securing this right. This is particularly the case for the inheritance of property. According to the East Jerusalem YMCA Women's Training Program Director, Mrs. Mai Jarrar, “we estimate that only 2.5% of the land in Palestine is registered to women. Women are seriously restricted in accessing their right to inherit, especially when it comes to land.”

To help address this issue, DanChurchAid (DCA) has received a three year 750,000 Euro grant from the European Union's Investing in People program helping to secure the right to Gender Equality. The Danish government is also providing financial support to this project. DCA has joined with three Palestinian NGOs – two in the West Bank (the EJ YMCA and the Palestinian Working Women's Society for Development) and one in Gaza (Women's Affairs Center) - to cooperate with twenty (20) additional grassroots women's organizations to work for change in benefit of women seeking to secure their legal right to own property.

Women's economic independence

This project is working at the grassroots level targeting community based organizations for direct actions in benefit of women as well as providing legal assistance to needy women and working to educate the Palestinian public through media campaigns focusing on film and drama. The project also has components addressing duty bearers and providing training to women activists working for gender equality.

Commenting on this new project, Marina Juan Oliva in charge of Gender issues at the EU Representative Office said: "It is essential to secure the legal right of Palestinian women to inherit and own property, which will in turn give them the ground to stand on their feet and become more independent economically. This kind of approach through legal advice or capacity building is crucial to achieve gender equality, a main priority of the EU external co-operation."