REFÎF ÎSLÎM

Gaza- Writer, researcher, and investigative journalist Hedaya Shamoun has investigated gender inequality. We spoke to her about the girls’ right to education, discrimination against women in society, economy, politics, and labor force. Pointing out that the attacks on women's rights have decreased over the years all over the world, she gave an example from herself and said that when she decided to study journalism in 1997, there were only five young women studying journalism.

Unspoken issues

After working as a journalist for years, she began to work for a magazine named “Al Ghaidaa”, a magazine focusing on women’s issues, to raise awareness of Palestinian women about the importance of their participation in all spheres of life and the reality of Palestine under the Israeli occupation. Hedaya Shamoun told us that in her research, she focuses on issues that no one dared to talk about before, such as sexual assault, types of threats on the phone, child marriage. She has also organized workshops at schools for parents to raise awareness against bias.

Women’s participation in politics

Hedaya Shamoun also focuses on refugee issues and their effects on refugee women in her research. Stating that the reason for women's reluctance to participate in politics is that young women are unaware of certain political concepts, she emphasized that the political parties do not have programs to encourage women to participate in politics. Pointing out that women have recently faced more threats, particularly after the emergence of social media networks, she said that women have been subjected to online harassment.

Who is Hedaya Shamoun?

Hedaya Shamoun is a Palestinian journalist, writer, and researcher. She held the position of Research and Information Program Coordinator at the Women affairs Center and has a 15-year of experience in specialized research in gender equality in the Gaza Strip (2002-2017).

The investigative journalist also has a media blog, which includes many articles, research, and studies on women's issues and Palestinian society. A specialized trainer in self-care and integrated security with an 8-year experience at Kvinna till Kvinna Swedish Organization, she moved to “Aman” as a Monitoring and Documentation Unit Coordinator in April 2017.