Palestinian Women Summit

Written by: Dalal Saeb Erekat

In conjunction with International Women's Day, the Palestinian Women's Summit will be launched on the fifteenth of March, an initiative of the Palestinian Business and Professional Women Network (BPW Palestine). To represent Palestine efficiently locally and internationally. The network was launched in March 2022 after Palestine registered with the International Federation of Women. For more information about the network and federalism, please visit the www.bpw_pal.org page and the Facebook page.
BPW Palestine

The Palestinian Business and Professional Women Network (BPW) is launching the Palestinian Women’s Summit initiative for the first time in cooperation with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, hoping that it will become a comprehensive national annual initiative to bring about practical change in the reality of women in Palestine by highlighting the Palestinian achievements and competencies that women represent in various sectors of academia. Law, engineering, medicine, science, technology, business, media, innovation, design, literature, art, data, politics and all areas in which Palestinian women have been able to excel in various ways.

This year marks the 23rd anniversary of United Nations Resolution 1325, and this resolution urged all parties to take the necessary measures in matters related to women's participation in decision-making processes.

October also marks every year the anniversary of the "Palestinian Women's National Day", which was adopted by the Ministry of Women's Affairs within the framework of the Palestinian government's plan to work to empower Palestinian women and enhance their role. The Basic Law and national policy agendas clearly state that the vision for Palestine is to promote gender equality. It also explains that women's participation in formal institutions needs to be strengthened and stresses the importance of including women's experiences and perspectives in official discussions about the occupation and its consequences. With the advent of the eighth of March, we view these dates and decisions as a turning point for the development of women’s rights, as they reflect the first official and legal documents issued by the Security Council in which the parties to the conflict are required to respect women’s rights and support their participation in peace negotiations and in reconstruction and reconstruction, and this is what the Ministry of Women’s Affairs built on. Celebrating the Palestinian Women's Day. Despite all this, from a practical point of view, women's participation rates are still not commensurate with their competence, and we still need to shed more light on women who play key roles in our society, as women's participation at the highest levels of decision-making has become an urgent necessity to achieve progress, prosperity and the desired unity.

The month of March is an opportunity for review and evaluation, to ask ourselves and our partners, what have we done towards women? What have we done with the political participation of women? Let's see where we have come from decisions and legislation and their application to protect half of society and empower women in various fields?

In order to answer these questions and to celebrate women and prove their distinction, the Business and Professional Women Network (BPW) and the Ministry of Women's Affairs are pleased to organize a summit that we hope will be annual and inclusive, this time from Ramallah, and soon in the Gaza Strip to bring together all partners to organize a national summit entitled Palestinian women.
The summit will be held in the style of Davos Dialogue:

The first discussion session highlights empowered women in the fields of technology, data, business, media, law and political decision-making.

The second discussion session sheds light on the role of donors, international agencies, projects and international efforts to empower women in Palestine.

Location: Arab American University - Al-Rayhan / Ramallah

When: Wednesday 11:30-3:30

The time has come to gather these successes under one umbrella, and we envision achieving this through the Palestinian Women's Summit initiative, which sheds light on young Palestinian women leaders and creators from many angles and different sectors. Be with us under one roof to unify the voice of Palestinian women in an attempt to gather female leadership models capable of making the positive social, economic and political change that Palestine and its people deserve.

This is an invitation to every empowered woman who is able to make a change, and an invitation to everyone who believes in the importance of the role of women to attend the first Palestinian Women's Summit on the anniversary of International Women's Day.