More Than Victims: Affect and Resistance in Palestinian Women
- Prisha Prabhuram
- Oct 19
- 5 min read
Sri City: Women are perhaps the most impacted in states of conflict. More than 10,000 women have been killed, nearly 23,000 have been injured and over 1 million women and girls have been displaced, many multiple times. Last year, 7 in 10 women dying in conflict globally were killed in Gaza. While conflict has an adverse impact on all civilians, women face the brunt of these impacts. As an Actionaid report details, women are primarily responsible for the physically demanding and time-consuming work of running a household in a war zone, from carrying heavy buckets of water to their tents to cooking over open fires, while also taking on additional caring responsibilities, such as tending to injured relatives. This burden of care means that the women put themselves in the bottom of everything, the last on the list, deprioritising themselves while taking care of others. Increasingly as the famine in Gaza grows, women regularly go without eating in favour of feeding other members of the family especially the children and the elderly. Nearly a quarter of a million women and girls in Gaza are starving, many on the brink of death. Over half a million more women are facing extreme hunger and acute malnutrition. A complex and generally conservative social and legal system means that women also face socio legal discrimination, as even when services are available, women may encounter significant barriers in physically accessing aid, including long wait times, harassment, and blackmail by service providers. As an aid-worker describes, “Women are usually at the end of the line [or] queue. She can’t interfere between men in the crowd… women could go more than four times for food baskets because she can’t have entry between men”. There have been several instances of women being harassed by aid providers and being forced to perform sexual services in exchange for work, money or food.
In addition, historically incidents of gender based violence against women increase during situations of conflict. In just April and May 2025, approximately 7000 incidents of gender based violence against women and girls were reported with most of the reported violence being perpetrated by family members. This high number of cases is despite breakdown of formal reporting structures and lack of access to safe shelters, the actual numbers are likely higher as the conflict increased in intensity and caused widespread poverty, displacement, and a growing scarcity of basic supplies, particularly food.
Women are also the most impacted by the breakdown of the healthcare system. The UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, estimates that 55,000 pregnant women are trapped in Gaza, contending with displacement, bombardment, severe hunger and malnutrition. Approximately 130 babies are born daily, with more than a quarter delivered by Caesarean section. Estimates indicate every week in Gaza, at least 15 women give birth outside a health facility without skilled help and around one in five newborns are born premature or suffering low birth weight.
UNICEF has described how babies in Gaza are being “delivered into hell”. Miscarriages in the region have reportedly increased 300 percent since the war’s start. The unavailability of menstrual products means that women and young girls are vulnerable to developing UTI’s (Urinary Tract Infections) and other reproductive health conditions. With less than a quarter of the over 10 million sanitary pads needed each month available, women and girls are forced to improvise. Many use torn clothes, sponges, or old rags, often without proper cleaning. Nearly 700,000 women and girls of reproductive age struggle to manage menstruation needs. This lack of access creates environments of shame and humiliation, especially for young girls who have just started their periods. This humiliation is further compounded by the lack of privacy and access to safe WASH facilities (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilities). More than 600 people share 1 bathroom, a figure significantly higher than 1 bathroom per 20 people that the WHO recommends. The lack of gender segregated bathrooms means that women do not have access to safe, private spaces for menstrual care and hygiene.
An UN article describes the experience of a young girl as she was sheltering alone in a refugee camp, “I only had one pad, so I wrapped it in toilet paper to make it last. I couldn’t wash, and the pain was horrible. I sat in silence crying until the end of the day.” These horrible experiences compound in worsening the mental health of Palestinian women as they are forcibly displaced from camp to camp, face food and health shortages, being impacted by increasing rates of gender based violence while remaining responsible for the burden of care within the family.
Palestinian women are negatively impacted by three major systems - the constant Israeli attacks and bombings, a patriarchal system within Palestinian society that places the burden of care and sacrifice onto women and sociolegal discrimination. While Palestinian women are certainly victims, it is the same Palestinian woman who has been an active presence in resistance ever since the start of the Zionist movement in 1947 and continues to be essential to resistance and peace building.
Historically Palestinian women have been a part of the active resistance through membership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) with iconic figures such as Leila Khaled, Abla Taha, Latifa Howari and Sarah Joudeh, who were all arrested during 1968 and subjected to torture inside Israel’s prisons. Women were also active militants within Fateh through figures such as Shadia Abu-Ghazaleh, Dala Mughrabi and Fatima Barnawi who all lost their lives through various missions.
Women have also spearheaded grassroots and civilian programmes that have been highly involved in broad based national liberation struggles such as the Arab Women’s Union (established 1929) that was involved in a range of social, economic and political campaigns. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, women played a central role in creating and establishing a range of welfare networks to support refugees such as The Arab Child Welfare House, The Arab Women’s Society, The Young Arab Women’s Club and The Association for the Support of Wounded Militants. Such organisations provided immediate support to meet people’s needs, but also had an educative and campaigning role within the refugee diaspora.
During the First Intifada, Women’s Action Committees, a decentralized network operating across Palestine with local leadership and initiatives was important as it allowed for the unification of women across rural Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank. A crucial organization has been the General Union of Palestinian Women as an affiliate of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization). In the light of the Gaza Peace Deal, women will continue to be crucial to peace and rebuilding. An UN report cites that peace agreements with women signatories have higher rates of implementation and last longer. A study of informal peace efforts found that women's groups were involved in grassroots level peace building and they play key roles in local peacebuilding through examples like Peace For Sudan, a platform formed by over 49 women-led organizations that pushes for an inclusive peace process.
Women, especially Arab women are often depicted as pure victims in western understandings and media. In conflict situations, women are further pushed into these boxes by their socio-legal-political realities. While women are certainly victims and are much more adversely impacted by the active genocide being waged on Palestine, they are also so much more than victims. They are a people with enormous strength, courage and resilience. Each Palestinian woman is to be respected for choosing to get up each morning and shoulder the burden of care, for continuing to live, breathe and resist. It is the long living spirit of “Sumud” (Arab word for steadfastness). It represents both passive endurance and dynamic resistance, rooted in cultural, social, and political resilience strategies developed in response to chronic adversity and military occupation. It is Sumud that pushes resilience, and the Palestinian women's ability to maintain their lives with integrity while also continuing to resist. It is this spirit of Sumud that will carry the Palestinian people into peace.
