The COVID-19 pandemic has had drastic effects on labour markets. It has also worsened the situation for Palestinian women in particular, and has resulted in lower female participation in the labour force. As of 2021, Palestinian women aged between 25 and 49 years contributed to 23% of the labour market. Traditionally, Palestinian women have contributed to the development of society through daily tasks of cooking, cleaning, and creating art - none of which have been considered as formal employment. However, with the prominence of social media and its integration of online marketplaces, the opportunities for women to gain monthly or daily income from their daily tasks has become easier.
Indeed, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are key examples of this use of non-traditional employment by Palestinian women. Through years of experience, though not necessarily with any formal qualifications, Palestinian women have developed notable skills such as cooking, embroidery and tailoring. Through the development of their culinary skills, practised by experimenting on their friends and families, women can extend their services to single individuals or families who cannot cook or do not have the time to do so.
Hence, by setting up an online page and regularly posting images and videos of their meals, these women can build potential customers and start receiving orders. Therefore, this allows women to participate in the labour force and gain an income through an extension of their cooking skills to the virtual audience.
Similarly to cooking, Palestinian women have also practiced Tatreez, commonly known as cross-stitch or embroidery, for generations. Through social media, women can host online live classes and sell their hand-made products. This encourages both the teaching, continuous learning, and preservation of Palestinian culture.
Truly, in times where cultures face existential threats, the continuous practice of tradition becomes important to their future. And in our case, this practice could help Palestinian people. It indeed provides women with the opportunity to transmit their knowledge to their fellows and simultaneously enables them to maintain their skills. Thus, this indirectly encourages all participants to hone in on their Tatreez skills and unleash their creativity.
A prominent leading example is Wafa Ghnaim, author of Tatreez & Tea. She hosts online workshops and shares Tatreez tips on her instagram page. Ghnaim even shared the importance of preserving Palestinian Tatreez with Atlas Obscura: “When Palestinians were exiled in 1948 and 1967, they weren’t carrying a pattern book. They were carrying their baby and running out the door,” says Ghnaim.
The emerging influencer was recently featured on Vogue to discuss how she continues to preserve traditional Palestinian Tatreez through learning and sharing this art with others. She is in the process of writing a new book and aims to digitise the Tatreez patterns to increase accessibility and allow others to build on them.
Despite these continous efforts, it is undeniable that Palestinian women also find it difficult to gain formal employment due to traditionally-imposed roles of being caretakers that ensure the functionality of the family unit. Additionally, in some Palestinian areas, male-dominated structures remain in place, and the possibilities of women working in men-dominated fields is low. This could arise from cultural and religious notions that women themselves sometimes participate in. However, they could also be due to limitations on women’s autonomy, often imposed by male members of their family. In an ideal setting, women would have the choice to gain employment wherever they choose to do so; however, by acknowledging the situation rather than simply criticising it, progress can be made by finding workarounds that would suit women in their male-dominated societies.
In short, while the use of social media has, arguably, many downsides, Palestinian women can use it to their own advantage, in terms of gaining employment and preserving culture and traditions that have been passed down for generations. Social media marketplaces should therefore be relayed as an option for women who wish to seek employment, giving them a chance to partake in journeys that they aim for.