Giant Step for Arab Women

By RAPHAEL ROTHSTEIN

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JERUSALEM—At the East Jerusalem Vocational Center, a stone building not far from the ancient walls that encircle the Dome of the Rock, the Holy Sepulchre and the Wailing Wall, Fatma Muhammed Algul and 24 other Arab women are learning to adapt the traditional Palestinian embroidery skill to the technique of the sewing machine.

From 8 A.M. to 3 P.M., Sunday through Thursday, Mrs. Algul, a mother of six in her early 40’s, is preparing herself for future employment as a seamstress in an Israeli factory or workshop by learning sewing construction and tailoring for mass production.

Although the idea of seeking employment outside the home may seem tame to Western women, it is an act of enormous social significance in East Jerusalem.

Before the Six-Day War of June, 1967, and the annexation of the former Jordanian sector of Jerusalem by Israel, the attitude of most Moslem and Christian Arab men toward their wives and daughters might have been summed up by an ancient Arabic saying: “A woman is like a precious jewel kept in a glass jar. The smallest crack in the jar may hurt the precious gem inside.”

Tradition ruled that women stay home, raise children, cook the meals and serve the men in the family. Those few women who did work in other than menial capacities were limited to teaching. But the aftermath of the war with Israel brought the Arab women of East Jerusalem into contact with Israeli women, most of whom hold jobs.

Their example, coupled with employment opportunities created by Israel’s buoyant postwar economy, made them aware of new possibilities. In outside work they saw a chance to widen their horizon.

Lessons and Social Activities The East Jerusalem Vocational Center is sponsored by Moetzet Hapoelot/Pioneer Women, a social service organization supported in Israel by working women and in the United States by the Women’s Labor Zionist Organization. In addition to Mrs.

Algul and her 24 co-students enrolled in the eight-month sewing course, another 20 women are studying hairdressing. Their ages range from 18 to 50 and they are frequently joined by friends and neighbors who attend the lectures, Hebrew lessons and social activities the center runs to foster Arab-Israeli understanding and cooperation. Mrs.

Violet Batat, the Israeli, Arabic-speaking director of the center, says that the demand for skilled workers in Israel’s booming needle trades export industries virtually guarantees that all her graduates will be placed. They will join the already substantial percentage of East Jerusalem’s 18,000 adult Arab women who have found employment in Israeli businesses.

The East Jerusalem center is one of 30 Arab women’s clubs run by the Moetzet Hapoelot in Israel. No clubs have been opened on the West Bank because the political status of the territory is uncertain. Mrs. Batat insists there is nothing political in the center’s effort.

“We want to help make these girls more productive, proud members of their families and community,” she said in an interview. “We also hope this effort eventually contributes something to the kind of peace we all want.” The women have their meals at the center and are given a grant of about $1.20 a day for each day they attend class, by the Israel Labor Ministry.

They pay an 80-cent-a-month registration fee. Women arrange with relatives and neighbors to care for their children during the day. Male Authority Still Supreme Defying centuries-old customs by going out to work is a mild revolution, really just a beginning, observers of the Palestinian women say.

There is still a long way to go before these women even approach the raised-consciousness level of an increasing number of women in Europe and the United States. Terms like “male chauvinist” and “sexist” are unheard of. Mr. Algul said that she and her husband, a gardening supervisor for the Jerusalem municipality, discuss most things.

“But,” she added, “the man has to have respect. He has the final word.” Some of the younger Moslem women in the sewing class wore the embroidered maroon and black long dresses characteristic of Palestinian peasants. Raja Mughrabi, 23, the secretary-coordinator of the center, explained that the Moslems tend to be more traditional than the Christian women.

Miss Mughrabi, whose father was a deputy governor of Jerusalem under King Hussein, said Arab women generally are developing more self-confidence. But, she added, “The men are still in control and likely to remain so.” The only taboo at the center, Mrs. Batat says, is politics. All other subjects, including birth control methods, are discussed freely.

Politics and the question of Palestinian nationalism, however, are not the immediate concerns of the increasing number of East Jerusalem working women. “Life has become complicated and expensive here as in the rest of the world,” Ruhaifa Zein, 24, said. “Before my husband said, ‘Stay at home.’ But now there has been a big change. My husband is proud of my embroidery.

He is pleased that I will work and earn money.”

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Cite this clipping

"Giant Step for Arab Women," The New York Times, 29 February 1972. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1972-026. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1972-026