"Palestinian Voices: Feminist Thought As A Tool For Resistance"

First International Conference, June 28-29, 2007

Dr. Faiha Qassem Abdel-Hadi

Dr. Faiha Abdel-Hadi: Writer and poet, research consultant, community and feminist activist, and lecturer. She obtained a Ph.D. in modern Arabic literature: The Contemporary Arabic Novel, from the University of Cairo in 1990, and a B.A. in Theatre Criticism from the Higher Institute for Theatrical Arts in Cairo in 1979. Dr. Abdel-Hadi is a member of the Palestinian National Council, the Palestinian Coordinator of the women’s network “A Thousand Women around the World”, and a member of the board of directors of the Palestinian women’s theatre organization “Shashat.” She is also a member of the board of directors of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center. Dr. Abdel-Hadi has worked as a research consultant for the Directorate of Gender Planning and Development / The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in Palestine, and has gained many rich and varied experiences in diverse fields of research – in literary criticism studies, the oral tradition, gender, and political writing. She has authored eight published books and ten studies and research reports. She also writes articles for a number of Palestinian and Arab newspapers and journals.

The subject of women has occupied the greater part of her academic interest, in addition to her practical interest, which has focused on popular action among women, through the Palestinian Women’s Union in Cairo, in which she was responsible for supervising cultural programs for women and girls who have been denied the opportunity to gain an education, as well as for educated women and girls. The goal of these programs was to stimulate the ongoing debate over the role of culture, and to train groups of women in leadership skills in order to access decision making positions, and to contribute to deepening awareness of the importance of words and music, through her founding of a choir (the Sunflower Choir) that preserves heritage, connects young people and children to their homeland, contributes to the building of a progressive human culture, and addresses consciousness and intellect at the same time.

As an author, her published books have varied between literature, politics and history. What unites them, however, has been the woman, who is present in all of her writings. She discussed her in the Palestinian novel, “Models of the Woman / The Hero in the Contemporary Palestinian Novel,” published in 1997, and in history, “The Palestinian Women and Memory”, and “Bibliography of the Palestinian Oral Tradition – Focusing on Women’s Issues,” both published in 1999. Next came, “The Roles of the Palestinian Woman in the 1930s: The Political Contribution of the Palestinian Woman”, and “The Roles of the Palestinian Woman in the 1940s: The Political Contribution of the Palestinian Woman”, which were published in 2006.

She also discussed her in her innovative work, “Do the Two Halves Match?” which was published in 1997, and the collection of poetry, “A Flower of the Soul,” which was published in 2005.

Dr. Abdel-Hadi has written numerous literary and critical studies, including some that deal with the Palestinian child: “The Cultural Identity of the Palestinian Child”, “The Openness of the Language of the Child to Foreign Cultures: Development and Life”, and “The Image of the Palestinian Child in Palestinian Literature.” Many of these works relate to the Palestinian woman: “The Empowerment of Women: The Key to Participation in Making Arab Cultural Policies”, “The Impact of Empowerment Projects on Family, the Household and Politics”, “Political Violence against the Palestinian Women”, “Gender, Displacement, Memory and Activism”, “The Marginalization of the Woman in History”, “The Image of the Woman in the Palestinian Woman’s Novel”, and “Integrating the Role of the Palestinian Women Inside and Outside Palestine.” Dr. Abdel-Hadi writes a regular column for the Alayam/Palestine newspaper, and occasionally for the Jordanian Alrai newspaper, the Cairo-based Al-Ahram newspaper, and the journal al-Yowm al-Sabi’, as well as Noor, al-Qahira, al-Sada, and Dabi al-Thaqafiya. Some of her articles deal with critical examinations of the novel and the story, and others critically discuss various political, cultural, social, Palestinian, Arab and global phenomena.

Towards a Feminist Vision: Connecting the National to the Social

Regarding the proposed title, which assumes the necessity of the connection between the national and the social in order to arrive at a feminist vision, I ask myself: does the connection between the national and the social lead to the liberation of women? Many men and women from among those who are enthusiastic about the role of women have believed in the organic connection between the national and the social, and that this connection is what will lead to the liberation of women. To what extent can this opinion be said to be true? Has this question accompanied the course of the struggle of the Palestinian woman for her emancipation since the early twentieth century? And if it has Firstly: Is national liberation sufficient for the liberation of women? Does freeing the nation from colonialism and occupation lead to the freeing of women from oppression, underdevelopment and dependency?

National liberation movements have answered, through their practice, that the emancipation of nations from the grip of colonialism and occupation does not necessarily mean the emancipation of women. The Algerian woman provides us with a concrete example of this, since, although patriarchal relations were strongly shaken during the war and women in Algeria began to be representatives in the parliament and in popular organizations, and while this presence could have been made complete and extended, she was, however, rapidly removed from the political arena following the national liberation, and was restricted to working in women’s organizations (Buata, 1994: 23). Similarly, the lessons derived from the social participation of women in Iran and Afghanistan informs us that a violent popular revolution in which women actively participate – Iran – does not guarantee the advancement of the position of women. Conversely, a minority government may constitute a genuine shift towards the liberation of women – Afghanistan. The explanation for this lies in the program of the revolutionary leadership and the new government in the two countries. After liberation, and in practice, we see that women in Iran actively participated in public life despite the fact that the hijab continued to be imposed on them. In Afghanistan, however, the revolutionary reform program came to a halt because of the civil war and the global hostility (Mughadem, 1994: 12). Further, in my paper I address question: Is the connection of the social to the national sufficient to ensure answers to the questions that feminist action raises? Moreover, what do we mean by the national, and what do we mean by the social? Do we use the national in the meaning of humanitarian and philanthropic, or class struggle? And do we use the national in the meaning of the nation state, or national liberation movements?