Women’s Informal Employment in Palestine: Securing A Livelihood Against All Odds

The article locates women’s informal employment in the Occupied Territories (OPT) in the context of the global and regional economy making a connection with the local. While it discusses Palestine in a global and regional context it also emphasizes the uniqueness of the Palestinian condition under the Israeli occupation. After a brief discussion of Palestinian women’s employment, a methodology is laid out for the following section that discusses the sample and the survey tool on women’s enterprise data. The data analysis starts with a demographic profile of informally employed Palestinian women in urban, rural areas and refugee camps. Then questions on where they work, why they work and how they work are answered using the data at hand. A discussion of the existing response strategies tailored by local and international public and private organizations is followed by conclusions and recommendations for further research, policy and interventions around women’s informal employment in the Palestinian context.