Relationship Between Women and Environment Toward Sustainable Development: A Case Study from Palestine

Abstract

Women have traditionally been the caretakers of the community, and their work has primarily met subsistence need set at the global level. Generally, women manage most of the household and agricultural activities. Livelihood has recently deteriorated due to many factors, such as poor environmental practices and resource management and environmental degradation, with an increasing number of men migrating to urban areas, which has thus resulted in the additional workload of women in rural areas. These issues lead to the following questions: (1) “What is the relationship between women and environment degradation?” and (2) “Will sustainability be achieved with women managing the environmental activities?” Accordingly, the present study primarily aims to investigate the current status of women’s participation in the environment in Gaza City, Palestine. The quantitative approach was used to collect the data in the selected area of study. Out of the 95 sets of the questionnaires distributed, only 70 sets were completely returned and analyzed, yielding a response rate of 74.3%. Results corroborate that the majority of the female participants (62.9%) reported that they clean their surroundings daily in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the results contend that the large proportions of the participants were involved in different environmental activities, such as agriculture, solid waste management, sewerage, and management of waste resources in their living area. The recommendations made in light of enhancing women’s involvement in protecting and managing the environment include the following: (i) The Palestinian women were required to participate at different level including national, regional, and international levels as regards environmental issues, such as preserving and protecting the nature, and (ii) the Palestinian women were required to obtain environmental education for sustainable development.