Gendered Nationalism and Palestinian Citizenship: Reconceptualizing the Role of Women in State Building

Abstract

In this essay, I draw on the move to contextualize gender theory in order to set out theoretical boundaries around the study of Palestinian women and citizenship in this crucial stage of state building. By exploring the complexity, contradiction and overlap in secular and Islamist perspectives on women in the future state structure, I hope to contribute to recognition of the diversity in the concept of “Palestinian feminism”. I will begin my discussion by defining gender as an analytical concept in order to explore the different ways in which the category of “woman” has served as site of contestation in the Palestinian context. I will then use this concept as a tool with which to discuss patriarchal institutions and the diversity of reactions by Palestinian women.