RAFAH, Gaza Strip — A group of women in the Gaza Strip are producing dairy products from sheep and cows in the enclave’s first factory with an entirely female workforce. The factory in Rafah, called Ayadi Tayyiba (Kind Hands), opened Feb. 22 with the support of the Japanese nongovernmental organization the Pacific Asia Resource Center’s Interpeoples’ Cooperation.

The ongoing Israeli siege has caused high rates of poverty and unemployment in the Gaza Strip, especially among women. A report issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in February showed that the unemployment rate among women in Gaza reached nearly 60%, amounting to 225,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Ikram Abu Rizk, chair of the women-only cooperative for sheep breeders leading the dairy factor project, told Al-Monitor that the project began in 2018 with providing sheep to nearly 180 women supporting households in Rafah and Khan Yunis.

Abu Rizk explained that 33 small farms were started with six women working in each. Each site was given 14 ewes and one ram. She noted, “There were criteria for selecting women; they needed to be the sole breadwinner for at least six-member families and they needed to be between 25 and 45 years old.” Each farm was soon producing six liters of milk per day.