GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian society remains a patriarchal one, hindering women’s access to their rights. Palestinian women are often denied their rights by their husbands, fathers or even tribal sheikhs. Some males consider that even mentioning the name of a woman in Palestinian events, such as weddings at the social level or in the elections at the political level, is unacceptable. Women’s names are thus hidden, and instead they are identified as “sister of” or “wife of,” or by her initials.

Some lists taking part in the Palestinian local elections that were slated for Oct. 8, but have now been delayed, replaced the names of their female candidates with “wife of” or “sister of.” When this happened in a list in the village of Tammun, south of Jenin, Palestinians condemned this act and the Arabic hashtag that translates into “Our names should not be covered” went viral among Palestinians.

Not only are the names of females removed from the electoral lists, the name of the bride is often absent from wedding invitation cards and substituted with her initials.

Nadia Abu Nahla, the director of the Women’s Technical Affairs Committee (WATC), told Maan News on Sept. 1, “The fact that some lists covered the names of female candidates is viewed as a serious decline in the lists' capabilities and in the way these movements think, even though the actions are justified as being in line with the social [conservative] character in some areas.”