Gaza - Community Media Center CMC

The CMC held 5 awareness meetings about the reality of academic women in academic institutions operating in the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with a number of universities, and with the active participation of male and female academics. This came as part of the activities of the second phase of the project “Promoting a culture of respect for women’s rights in academic institutions – respect them”, which is being implemented by CMC in partnership with the German Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Kholoud Al-Sawalmeh, Projects Manager at the CMC, explained that the "Respect Her" project aims to promote a culture of respect for women’s rights and equality in academic institutions in the Gaza Strip, by raising university students’ and academics’ awareness of women’s rights, empowering female academics, and institutionalizing the Palestinian Female Academics Authority PAC, formed by CMC over two years ago. In an attempt to create an independent feminist framework that includes female academics to defend their rights, represent their issues, and provide them with specialized services in various fields.

The awareness meetings aimed to discuss the conditions, rights and needs of academic women in universities, and to benefit from the discussions and recommendations in enriching the study "Needs of Academics in the Gaza Strip" issued by the CMC as part of the activities of the "Respect Her" project.

A group of male and female academics from all governorates of the Gaza Strip participated in these meetings which were implemented in cooperation with 5 universities, among the universities that signed memorandums of understanding with the CMC as part of the activities of a project that is currently in its first phase, which are Al-Aqsa University, the University of Palestine, and Al-Azhar University and Israa University.

The sessions focused on the rights of Palestinian women in international and local laws, and the conditions of women within academic institutions, and presented the study “Needs of Academics in the Gaza Strip” prepared by researchers Abdel Moneim Al-Tahrawi and Mahmoud Abdel-Hadi, where they facilitated the meetings and emphasized that development can only be achieved by promoting gender equality in all fields, including academic institutions, and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in universities.

In a related context, the participants expressed the importance of having a body that represents academic women and defends their rights, as they praised the idea of ​​the Palestinian Female Academics Authority (PAC), and recommended the implementation of introductory meetings about the body, its objectives, its role, the future plan, and how to join it.

In turn, the CMC will take these recommendations into consideration, and continue its work in the process of institutionalizing the PAC, and promoting a culture of respect for women’s rights in academic institutions in the Gaza Strip.

At the end of the sessions, the two researchers presented a set of recommendations and suggestions that would improve the reality of women in academic institutions, the most prominent of which was a gender revision of the workers union system, the faculty system, and the academic system in academic institutions, in addition to conducting an analytical and critical review of the two strategic documents for promoting justice and gender equality in the academic institutions.

It is noteworthy that the CMC is a civil institution operating in the Gaza Strip since 2007, seeking to develop the role of the media in dealing with societal issues, and promoting the values ​​of democracy, equality and a culture of human rights, with a focus on women and youth issues and highlighting them through various media means within the existing approach. on human rights.