Palestinian textbooks feature misogyny funded by Europe, report finds

• Published date: 14 March 2024
• Author: OHAD MERLIN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The report examined 13 textbooks for the 2023-24 school year, assessing efforts toward gender equality as per the Palestinian Ministry of Education's announced strategic plan for 2017-2022. According to the report, despite intentions to eliminate discrimination, persistent gender biases were identified, especially in Islamic Education materials, which often portray women as inferior and emphasize traditional roles, albeit with some acknowledgment of their role in nationalist efforts

The report finds that the curriculum presents an uneven picture of gender equality, with an inconsistent approach evident in the contrasting depictions of women, from upholding traditional roles to glorifying their participation in nationalist 'resistance,' including the problematic celebration of female terrorists as icons.

This depiction of women and gender roles, the report stresses, starkly diverges from UNESCO standards and international gender equality treaties ratified by the PA itself, exposing a significant gap between PA educational policies and global benchmarks and raising questions about the impact of international support and funding aimed at fostering gender equality in Palestinian education.

A mixed message: inferior in life, but equal in death

The report provides 12 examples of the propagation of gender stigmas and biases, including a suggestion for students to run a campaign called "no to gender equality, yes to gender justice." In one lesson, the teacher is encouraged to answer a "wrong misconception," holding that "some women are smarter than men" by saying that it is true but "not overwhelmingly."

In another instance, it is explained that divorce lies in the hands of men, not women, since "he thinks from his mind and she (thinks) with emotion, so the family will be destroyed if the woman takes the right to divorce."Another example explains a Hadith in which women are said to be "lacking in mind and religion" as an instant of praise, not humiliation; while in another instance, it is said that the head of the state in Islam must be a man since it is a mission for those who have strong "bodies, minds, and hearts."

Two other examples include the statement that Muslim women who dress properly are kept from harm, and "no weak or sick person would dare to hurt them," implying that a woman's choice of clothing is to blame for assaults – not the assailant; and a clarification that the women are propagators of adultery, and their adultery is more horrible and more...