GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The ongoing Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip enters its 11th year with Palestinians suffering the ensuing crises that have affected all aspects of life in the enclave. Because women are a vulnerable group in society, a pressing need has emerged to support Gazan women by empowering them to obtain their rights, promote their status and improve their financial situation.

Civil society organizations supporting marginalized groups in Gaza in general follow the policies of their financiers and the needs they identify, often disregarding the requirements of implemented projects or the needs of the targeted groups. However, the 2017 Women's Leadership Incubator (WLI) project is the first to allow women's support organizations in Gaza to identify their needs as an organization as well as the needs of the community they target.

The 2017 WLI project implemented by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor funds, trains and supports the staff of organizations that were chosen to participate in the project, to strengthen their staff’s sensitivity to marginalized women’s needs and rights, and implement projects to support them.

The difficult economic situation of women in the Gaza Strip was the main motivation behind the launch of the project. A March 7 press release by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics stated, “The female participation rate in the labor force was 19.3% of the total female population of working age [15 years or older] in 2016 … while the male participation rate was 71.6% in 2016."