In conjunction with International Women’s Day, the Society of Women Graduates participated in the study day entitled “The Gender Reality of Women in Palestinian Civil Society Organizations”, within the “Citizen First” project funded by the European Union and in partnership with the Center for Civil Society Studies (Civitas) and the Arab World Observatory for Democracy and Elections, with the representation of Ms. Wedad Al-Sourani, Director General of the Assembly, in the presence of Mr. Maher Issa, Director General of Svitas Center, Mr. Yousri Darwish, President of the Civic Alliance for Democracy and the Rule of Law, and Ms. Fatima Ashour, a gender expert in the project, in addition to representatives of partner institutions.

In her speech, which she delivered on behalf of the partners, Ms.Wedad Al-Sourani addressed the reality of Palestinian women in general and university graduates in particular, as she mentioned that there are tens of thousands of female university graduates in Palestine, and despite the presence of this huge number, there is still a shortcoming in the level of women’s access and their active participation in the decision-making process.

Moreover, she indicated that one of the main components of the Citizen First project is gender auditing with the aim of measuring and reviewing the reality of women and the gender reality in the civil society organizations targeted by the project, and that this component will enable us to identify and define the baseline of the current situation and then identify institutional needs In order to meet it and work to correct the gender reality within the gender mainstreaming mechanisms to achieve social justice, which necessarily means that it includes gender equality and justice.

She added that this path will enable us to advance gender reform projects for NGOs through a roadmap that includes strengthening the institutional culture towards adopting the gender perspective as an institutional culture, and strengthening organizational structures, policies, regulations, and procedures. The interventions will also focus on best practices that reflect gender justice in a real and tangible way, noting that at the end of the project a dimensional evaluation will be carried out to measure the level of improvement and achievement that occurred on partner institutions in their systems and structures.

Al-Sourani concluded her speech by saying that they hope to prepare a gender code of conduct, in accordance with the ethical gender code on which the current gender audit process was carried out, to constitute a moral commitment for civil society organizations at this stage, and then be published and circulated for societal adherence.