SVF held a public awareness meeting in collaboration with the Women's Programs Center - Maghazi entitled "The experience of Palestinian women in municipal councils" on Thursday, February 25, 2010 in the presence of Mrs. Hanan Abu Mashayekh, member of the Secretariat of municipal councils in Maghazi. Mrs. Abu Mashayekh emphasized the Palestinian women role who have important role at all levels, especially participation in the movement of the Palestinian struggle, and pointed out that in the year 1994, during the formation of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian women began to be aware of their rights besides the political and social role. In this sense, she stressed that Palestinian women have strong experience in the process of the Palestinian struggle and after this stage was the stage of local councils and the quota for women's participation by Palestinian women. Furthermore, she indicated that the Palestinian women participated in the struggle movement and the formation of public associations and women's frames notably the General Union of Palestinian Women outside Palestine.
Moreover, Mrs. Mashayekh pointed out that there are women leaders participated in international conferences and raised their issues in international forums and succeeded to shed light on their usurped rights and they are still struggling. Mrs. Mashayekh called on the necessity to qualify women themselves and improve their performance and stressed the need to highlight the role of women in the community to consolidate the achievements and the importance of women's role in the development process of society. In addition to that, she assisted it is necessary to hold workshops, open discussions, seminars and training courses for developing the potential of Palestinian women and awareness to facilitate their mission in the Palestinian society. About their role in the municipal councils, Mrs. Mashayekh confirmed that the recession overshadowed all sides of life and there is no prominent role as a result of siege imposed on Gaza Strip, affected the sustainability of development projects, and the municipalities work limited to delivering basic services.
