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Empowering Women in the OPT
The treatment of the female population in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
The movement restrictions ubiquitous throughout the
occupied Palestinian territory
(OPT) particularly affect women. In the OPT, women unaccompanied
by a male relative may not be permitted to travel at all, while the daily negotiation of obstacles and checkpoints disincentivizes male travel.
As a result, blindness-causing illness in women is very often
detected late and controlled poorly.
A further burden on women’s health and ability to access healthcare services is the high fertility rate. According to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Health (2004) the fertility rate (the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime) in Palestine stands at 4.6, which means that women’s time is spent managing large families, leaving little opportunity to seek preventative services such as screening for diabetes.
Because they are currently less likely to be educated than men, women are more likely to be unaware of the dangers of diabetes. In addition, pregnant women with diabetes face a higher risk (10%) of developing diabetic retinopathy and about 4% of pregnant women already suffering retinopathy will
experience a worsening of
their condition.
Young women in particular
suffer from the social stigmas that are attached to blindness
or wearing glasses in the OPT, and discernable defects of the eye often inhibit the chances of making a good marriage. Women’s lives are frequently limited to the home and
considered less worthy of
assistance than men, influencing how family money is spent and – again – a woman’s ability to access services.
Yet good eyesight is elemental in the process of receiving education. And empowering women helps developing countries increase and sustain economic growth. When permitted access to education, women increase the overall human capital of
a country.
By doing our best to provide
accessible and affordable services that address some of the eminently treatable conditions that contribute to the prevention of women receiving education in the OPT, we help empower the female population and contribute to the long-term development of the region. Further, when better educated and more in control of their lives, women are more successful in bringing down rapid population growth because they have more say in family planning.
We estimate that we will treat over 45,000 women in East Jerusalem, the West Bank
and Gaza in the upcoming year.
This means that more than 45,000 families will benefit as a daughter, wife, mother or grandmother will no longer suffer the stigmatization of obvious sight defects and the economic burden of blindness or impaired vision is removed from their lives.
If you would like to help us
support thousands of Palestinian women access the eye-care services that they need, please use the donation form at the back of this newsletter or, better still, become a regular giver by direct debit.