good governance practices for the protection of human rights

political actors would perceive a 30 per cent quota as threatening. The final proposal
was for a minimum of 20 per cent women in the Legislative Council and a
minimum of 30 per cent women on the lists of political parties. The proposal was
published in the newspapers and laid the ground for its advocacy and lobbying.
Ultimately, a new electoral law was adopted in 2005 and formed the basis for
the 2006 legislative elections, the first since 1996. It required each party list to
include at least one woman in the top three names, another in the next four and
one in each subsequent five. Seventeen women were elected to the 132-member
Legislative Council.
Advocacy campaigns by the WATC network of civil society and women’s groups
also contributed to the appointment of 56 women to West Bank local councils,
which until 2004 had not been elected. The Gaza local councils refused the
appointment of any women. However, as a result of the lobbying and advocacy
efforts of the network, in 2004, the Legislative Council approved a 20 per cent
quota for women on local councils. In the 2004 municipal and local council
elections, women’s representation, which had never exceeded 1 per cent, rose
to 17 per cent.
In addition to its advocacy on the Electoral Law, WATC drafted and presented to
the Legislative Council a proposal for a unified family law based on a number of
studies. This was a particularly challenging task given the coexistence in Palestine
of many legal systems. It also submitted a proposal to the Legislative Council for
a gender-sensitive penal law.
Progress as a result of WATC advocacy also included the creation of the new
Ministry for Women’s Affairs, in addition to women’s units in other ministries.
Impact on human rights and challenges
The increased level of participation and representation of women in State institutions
is a step forward in the protection of their political rights. Also, the legal
guarantee through the 20 per cent quota for women on local councils protects
their right to participation at that level of government. Importantly, the advocacy
efforts of the WATC network have raised awareness in Palestinian society of the
importance of democratic processes and human rights even in the context of
conflict.
However, the gender gap in the representation of women in politics persists and
requires additional and continual work. Palestinian women continue to face
many challenges in their efforts to participate in public life. The experience of
women representatives in the local councils has often been difficult and their
participation resisted. Also, the women elected in the 2006 elections came from
political party lists, as opposed to being independently elected, and do not necessarily
share the aspirations of organizations such as WATC. Furthermore, the
continuation of public insecurity and conflict combined with the election of a
socially conservative party pose challenges to the agenda of women’s rights activists.
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