About five years ago, Aida Abu Khalaf, 43, a divorced mother of five, joined MAAN- Workers Association. She had heard that MAAN helps Arab women find legally paid and protected jobs. She had to support her children and put food on the table. Previously she had worked through a manpower company in a part-time job in Caring for the elderly but felt exploited by the company.
Throughout the difficult period of Covid-19, the Women’s Empowerment group in Baqa al-Gharbia has continued its activities, led by its moderator, Hana Taufik. During the first lockdown, which lasted from mid-March to the end of May, Taufik held shorter meetings than usual through video links three times a week. Since June, ordinary meetings have resumed in the office or outdoors.
The Coronavirus crisis has created a difficult challenge for the WAC-MAAN women’s sector, which organizes Arab women in Israel – especially women with low education levels – helping them to integrate within the labour market. Prior to the crisis, the rate of participation of Arab women in labour market in Israel was 35%, compared to 85% among Jewish women. The vast majority work in jobs such as services, agriculture and cleaning. Many are part time, wages are low, and employment rights are partial.
Despite high unemployment in Israel in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the National Economic Council rushed to promote a proposal to enable 4,000 migrant laborers to enter the country to work in care homes
WAC-MAAN and Sindyanna of Galilee have decided to dedicate International Women’s Day of 2019 to green economy and sustainability. The event, which took place on March 9 at the Arab-Hebrew Theater in Jaffa, was dedicated to the need to shift towards solar energy and hydroponic farming. Some of the dozens of women who participated in the event from the Triangle region have begun a hydroponic course in January, and they are undergoing a transformation. In dedicating themselves to this endeavor, they are joining a major global trend, in which women’s movements lead the way to societal and technological change. Thus, they can save human society from pollution and violence and transform it into a world of transnational cooperation.
Rabab Kabaha graduated from the first caregiver training in the
There was excitement all around. On July 23, 2018, 35 Arab women were handed their geriatric-care qualification certificates by the Academic School for Nursing at The Hillel Yaffe Medical Centre in Israel. The women had previously been unemployed or worked as cleaners or in agriculture. The training involved 72 hours of theory and 48 hours of practice. At the graduation ceremony, the women were joined by Dr Meyrav Ben-Natan, manager of the School for Nursing; Tamar Vechter, manager of the School’s enrichment programme; Ayat Cabhah of the staff; Muraad Amash, chair of Jisr A-Zarka council; Rasam Jubran, head of the village’s welfare committee; Silvia Zayed, public health nurse in Jisr; Wafa Tiara, manager of the women and work project at WAC-MAAN union; Amani Kadan of WAC-MAAN staff; and Michal Schwartz, women’s forum coordinator at WAC-MAAN.
[:en]On the International Woman Day, March 8th, Arab and Jewish
[:en]Olwen Maynard has been at CAFOD for over thirty years.
[:en]On Sunday, October 1, the graduation ceremony of the first
