Building coalitions for Constitutional equality in Palestine

One of the pillars of a state is its Constitution, another pillar are its women: this shadow Constitution treats women as
equal citizens, the way it should be. Speaking is Muayed Shaben, Tulkarem District Secretary-General of the Fatah
political party: Distribute it widely, everyone should read this Shadow Constitution!
Muayed Shaben is one of a number of Palestinian decision-makers who are speaking out in favor of a Constitution
written by the Constitutional Shadow Committee which challenges the lack of gender equality in the current third draft
of the Palestinian Constitution. The Shadow Committee is an initiative of the Palestinian Center for Peace and
Democracy (PCPD) and the Jerusalem Center for Women (JCW) who jointly implement the Towards a Gender Sensitive
Palestinian Constitution project, which is funded by the Fund for Gender Equality / UN Women. The project has trained
700 young Palestinian women and men on the importance of legislative frameworks that support equal rights &
opportunities and has built a coalition of 47 grassroots organizations to push for broader consultation in drafting the
Palestinian Constitution.
Young female representatives of this grassroots coalition took a
leading role in writing the Shadow Constitution and are now at the
forefront of its lobby and advocacy-campaign. As the representative
of the Tekua Youth Organization says: the official draft treats
women as second-class with limited rights, we need to act and come
together now to ensure legal rights for women, we want to be part
of social change. Our Shadow Constitution shows people and
politicians that gender equality is possible.
Throughout 2014 the Shadow Committee has used radio and TV, as
well as social media, canvassing and newspaper articles to increase
peoples awareness of the Constitution and promote their shadow
version of it. As a next step the Committee will present a petition,
signed by more than 300 Palestinian organizations, to the chairman
of the Official Palestinian Constitutional Committee, demanding full
gender equality in any new draft.

The PCPD and JCW believe that a more participatory Constitutional drafting process can empower and educate
marginalized groups, make the Constitution accessible to the general public and create ownership. Another prominent
decision-maker, the Governor of Tulkarem, Abdallah Kamil seems to agree: the timing of this gender sensitive Shadow
Constitution is very good: as we are discussing our statehood, we need politicians and the public to be aware of the
important issue of non-discrimination in our Constitution. The young women and men who have written this better
version and are advocating for it are an example for society