GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Despite efforts by women's rights organizations in the Gaza Strip to fight for their rights, empower them and change societal views of women as dependent beings, the director of the Women's Affairs Center in the Gaza Strip, Amal Siyam, said, “The process of developing the rights of women in Palestinian society is quite slow, as the community continues to hold onto customs and traditions that give men control and guardianship over women in most aspects of their lives.” She added that women's rights organizations have begun to directly target and confront men, instead of focusing only on helping women regain societal rights.

The Women's Affairs Center, established in 1991 in the Gaza Strip, plays a leading role in empowering women and promoting gender equality. The center’s main objective is threefold: develop women’s capacities, promote fact-based decision-making processes, enhance the local community’s view of women's rights and achieve gender equality.

The center’s programs and projects serve women in marginalized positions, housewives, university students and women who have been victims of violence or whose rights have been violated. It focuses its efforts on deep-rooted problems in Palestinian society such as child marriage, denial of women's inheritance, domestic violence and divorce issues like child custody. It also aims to train women to achieve economic independence.

The center receives financial support for its projects from international development institutions such as Catholic Relief Services, the Swedish organization Kvinna till Kvinna and ActionAid, which is headquartered in South Africa.