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Decades of Action: UNRWA and #GenderEquality

07 March 2020

This #InternationalWomensDay, UNRWA joins UN Women’s new multi-generational “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights” campaign, which is aligned with its #Generation#Equality campaign, to support women’s demands for equal pay, health-care benefits, an end to sexual harassment and violence, and their equal participation in political life.

UNRWA has embedded gender equality and empowerment across its human development work since it started operations on the ground in 1950, including in times of emergency. The Agency’s commitment to the promotion of #GenderEquality and women’s empowerment is enshrined in the Gender Equality Policy (2007) and the Gender Equality Strategy (2016-2021).

Today, we are proud to highlight the many ways in which the Agency has supported the rights and aspirations of Palestine refugee women over the past 70 years, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Decade of Action. 

Young women play basketball at the Women's Activity Centre in Kalandia, West Bank, in the 1950s. © Undated UNRWA Archive Photographer UnknownYoung Palestine refugee girls from Gaza joined in the attempt to set the record for most basketballs bounced simultaneously. The event was part of the “Summer Games” organized by UNRWA in 2010 involving some quarter of a million children across the Gaza Strip. UNRWA has been the main comprehensive primary health-care provider for Palestine refugees for 70 years. This includes the introduction of mother and child-care in the early 1950s, including ante and post-natal care, preconception and delivery care, as well as family planning services. An innovative phone app to track mother and child-care was introduced in 2017. In this picture, a pregnant mother and her son present at an UNRWA health centre in Husn Palestine refugee camp in Jordan. © 1969 UNRWA Archive Photo by George Nehmeh. SDG 3 and SDG 5Infant and maternal mortality rates over the past few decades of UNRWA services have been a main focus in the provision of health care. In 2017, out of 8.5 million consultations, 60 per cent were women and girls. In 2018, the maternal mortality rate stood at 15.8 out of 100,000 live births among pregnant women registered with UNRWA antenatal services. The Agency supported a decline in the neonatal mortality rate – a main indicator of the health of a community – among Palestine refugees from 16 per cent in 1960 to 1.37 per cent in 2017. In this photo, a mother and her two infant children visit the UNRWA health centre in Marka Palestine refugee camp in Jordan for a regular check-up. © 2013 UNRWA PHOTO by Alaa Ghosheh. SDG 3 and SDG 5Schoolgirls raise their hands to answer the teacher's question in Khan Younis camp, Gaza. From the first 93 schools that opened in 1950 for some 35,000 Palestine refugee students, UNRWA looks back at a proud tradition of gender mainstreaming in its education services. While only 25 per cent of students in 1950 were girls, UNRWA schools had achieved gender parity by the mid-1960’s. In this picture, girls line up in the courtyard of their school in Gaza. © 1958 UNRWA Archive Photographer Unknown. SDG 4 & SDG 5The Agency’s education programme has had a transformational impact on four generations of refugee children, particularly for girls, achieving gender parity in its schools long before most national education systems in the region. UNRWA has educated over two and a half million refugee children under a programme recognized as a significant educational force in the Middle East. Currently, 75 per cent of all Palestine refugee students receiving scholarships for university are women. These two girls are students at the UNRWA Jalazone Girls school in the Jalazone refugee camp in the West Bank. © 2018 UNRWA Photo by Marwan Baghdadi, SDG 4 & SDG 5Young school parliamentarians gather for a meeting at their school in the Sbeineh Palestine Refugee Camp in Syria. School parliaments are part of the he Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Tolerance (HRCRT) programme pioneered by UNRWA in 1999. The programme ensures that all refugee children, including girls, know the rights to which they are entitled, along with the need to respect all rights universally. The first school parliaments allowed girls and boys to engage in democratic practices, leadership and networking, thus laying the groundwork for their equal participation in politics and decision-making. The first Agency-wide parliament was elected in 2017. © 2019 UNRWA Photo by Taghrid Mohammed. SDG 5 SDG 10Strengthening the capacities of Palestine refugees and providing them with the necessary skills to achieve their potential and access the job market is at the core of the Agency’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme. UNRWA opened the Ramallah Women’s Training Centre (RWTC) in 1962. It is the first vocational training center in the Arab world for women and established UNRWA as a pioneer in introducing gender parity. This picture shows a young woman trainee at the RWTC in 1968. © 1968 UNRWA Archive Photographer UnknownThe Ramallah Women’s Training Center (RWTC), opened in 1962, was the first vocational training center (VTC) for women in the Arab world. Today, there are eight VTCs for over 7,500 Palestine refugees across all five fields of Agency operation. As off 2018, the Agency graduated some 114,000 Palestine refugee students from its vocational training centers Employment rates for TVET graduates are high, helping to mitigate youth unemployment, including among women. Currently, women make up over 40 per cent of the student body, thus improving the prospect of equal economic rights and opportunities. This photo shows a female and male student using laboratory equipment at the Gaza Vocational Training Centre. © 2009 UNRWA Photo by Shareef Sarhan. SDG 5 and SDG 8Nada Kattouna from Jordan received a loan from UNRWA in 2012 to improve her project, “Electronic Devices Design”. UNRWA established the Microfinance Department in 1991 to promote economic development and alleviate poverty. At the time, only 7 per cent of loan takers were women. Since then, UNRWA worked to address widespread gender disparity in employment and economic activities among Palestine refugees in striving to provide economic opportunities to women. So, in 1994, UNRWA launched collective loans to groups of women and in 2010 UNRWA started targeting microfinance loans directly at women entrepreneurs across its areas of operation. In 2019, an average of 44 per cent of loan takers were women. In 2018,Microfinanza –a global microfinance authority – awarded the Agency an A+ rating for social performance in Palestine, the only microfinance provider to have received this honour in the MENA region, situation it within the top five per cent of all microfinance programmes in the world. © 2012 UNRWA Photo. SDG 5UNRWA students at the Rimal Preparatory Girls’ School “A” participate in 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign. The Agency’s commitment to the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment is enshrined in its Gender Equality Policy (2007) and the Gender Equality Strategy 2016-2021. The Agency has also, since 2009, taken a multi-sectoral approach to ending gender-based violence, in addition to addressing the gendered impact of crises and emergencies. In 2018, UNRWA introduced the guidelines on Zero Tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, thus, taking an important step toward ending sexual harassment and violence. © 2019 UNRWA Photo by Ibrahim Abu Usheiba. SDG 5 SDG 10 SDG 16

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