An-Najah Staff

Abstract This study comes to treat and evaluate the role that women played in the Palestinian political field, specifically in the Legislative Council, and the extension of their contribution in making decisions and legislations through the Legislative Council. The study was proposed to assess truth in the hypothesis which claims and assumes that women in the PLC have worked in isolation and have blended themselves within their parties which negatively impacted the reinforcement of female political participation. Therefore, women in the PLC could not launch any united feminist political efforts that would help to form feminist partisan policies or take decisions related to feminist activism in its specific sense. In a novel approach, this study deals with the role women played in both of the Palestinian electoral periods (1996 and 2006) in addition to exploring the factors affecting their decision making firstly in winning seats in the Legislative Council and secondly in participating politically and legislatively. The study follows a descriptive analytical approach. Interviews with the MPs were also used. The study draws a number of conclusions. Most importantly that the participation of women in official institutions has not arrived at the level of the important role that women played and still play in the Palestinian society, on both the national and political levels, which limits the possibility of their impact in policy making and modifying the current legislations. The study has also found that the political parties have supported women in a way that served their own partisan interests and did not help women or recognize their rights. The ambiguity of women’s platform and the lack of connection between it and public and social issues has negatively impacted the performance of the women MPs. Based on the results obtained, the study recommends that it is very urgent to review governmental policies and to restudy their suitability for women’s participation in decision making. It is also essential to increase opportunities for women to partake in official institutions, specifically the legislative ones and allow more room for their contributions in development, in policy making and in modification of laws in a way that serves their interests.