We aim to boost Palestine's women

Djamila al-Shinti Minister of Women's Affairs in the Hamas government in Gaza, Djamila al-Shinti, gave assurances that her ministry was doing all that  is possible to enhance the potential of Palestinian women , and to empower them on  economic, social, legal, political and cultural matters, so that  women are "well-prepared to make their expected contribution in building a Palestinian state based on an effective civil society inspired by Islamic values."
Interviewed by Arabstoday, Shinti spoke about her ministry's activities, as well as its future plans and programmes, designed to improve the conditions of Palestinian women. She said the ministry's strategy is based on five axes; raising awareness levels, studies and statistics, training and self-dependence, legal empowerment and economic empowerment.
Talking in details about these axes, the minister said: "raising women's awareness levels includes annual programmes organised by  a coalition of 13 governmental and non-governmental organisations, which began its work in 2010. The first programme was called 'Together for a happy family,' while this year's programme is entitled  'For a secure family.' These programmes take into account the priorities of Palestinian women, and the variety of objectives needed for different age groups, in order to enable them to have a bigger role in society."
Regarding studies and statistics prepared by the ministry, Shinti said: "We have published a study about the main needs of Palestinian women in Gaza, listed according to priority. It shows that the main need for women is health care services, then job opportunities, education, social and political participation and legal empowerment. We have also distributed another study about the reasons behind divorce in Gaza, and organised sessions to discuss this.  Finally, we issued a comprehensive statistics guide about all aspects of the conditions of women in all aspects of their life in 2010, and we are currently preparing to issue the 2011 edition."
The minister revealed that the most prominent programmes are those held in cooperation between Gaza's government and the Emirati Farha Academy for Family Studies, adding that those programmes concentrate on the youth and include 60 free scholarships every year, in addition to the October 6 programme, which offers three hours training and lecturing for chosen female students to speak about the Palestinian cause in English, which she believes is an important skill  in order to make successful communication with the foreign convoys which have come to Gaza recently.
Shinti explained that her ministry gives priority to small enterprises which are suitable for female-headed households. These enterprises include a programme for sheep breeding and home gardens production, which was organised in cooperation with some international organisations, as well as the foundation of the Widows' Production Centre, which offers free training programmes for widows in tailoring, food production, hairdressing and women's sports.
"We are also concerned to help the handicapped women, so we organised a training programme for them in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, about home-grown mushroom farming" added the minister.
Concerning what she calls the legal empowerment axis, the minister said that the government offers several lectures and work sessions for women, under the "Legal Knowledge" programme, which concentrates on women's legal rights. Shinto concluded that the Women's Affairs Ministry has issued a legal directory for women, "in order to raise awareness about their rights according to Gaza's laws which embrace personal status law, family law, insurance and retirement law,  public service law, labour law and elections law".