No longer hemmed in

The Arous el-Bahr organization guides Jaffa women toward community and economic empowerment – including a sewing project in which they make dolls and other products to be sold in stores.

By NOREEN SADIK
Arab women 521 (photo credit: NOREEN SADIK)
Arab women 521
(photo credit: NOREEN SADIK)
The run-down building off Yefet Street in Jaffa does not look as though anything promising could come out of it. But as the saying goes, looks can be deceiving.
Muffled sounds of laughter fill the drab staircase. The third-floor landing opens to an office with cheerful peach-colored rooms and a large balcony facing the Mediterranean Sea. A group of women sits on the balcony sharing recipes, and from inside the buzz of sewing machines can be heard.
This is the home of Arous el-Bahr (Bride of the Sea), a non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of the Arab women of Jaffa.
Safa Younes, 36, a social worker and mother of three, recognized that there was something lacking for the Arab women of Jaffa and had the drive and courage to fill the void.
Before telling her story, a short primer on the employment status of the Israel-Arab woman in Israel may be in order.
Kiram Baloum, director of the women’s unit at the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, has worked on the empowerment of Arab women for several years and is very familiar with their financial needs and challenges.
She has been to Arab cities and villages all over Israel with the goal of enabling women to gain skills that will help them to find employment or even open their own businesses.
The lack of large companies or factories in the Arab sector forces women to search for employment outside their home towns. However, according to Baloum, some women in this traditional society face challenges that make working outside of their cities and villages difficult.
Distance, transportation and lack of knowledge of Hebrew can pose problems.
Young girls usually work in customer service or sales, but for women who are wives and mothers, leaving the house and children is difficult. Women who wear a hijab also face difficulties finding work in the Jewish sector because of discrimination, and if they do, they feel conspicuous and uncomfortable while traveling to work. Therefore it is more practical for Arab women to work in or open businesses closer to home.
Due to a financial need rather than a need for self-enrichment or growth, 1999 saw an increase in Arab women opening their own businesses. But in one year alone, between 2000 and 2001, during the second intifada, new businesses owned by Arab women increased by 14.3%. Going to the West Bank to shop was now impossible as entrance was prohibited. Fear of going to the Jewish sector, and a lack of stores supplying basic household needs and clothing in the Arab sector resulted in the opening of new businesses.
The number of registered businesses owned by Arab women now stands at 5,000.
The women of Jaffa face other challenges in addition to those typical in the national Arab sector.
Populated by 20,000 Arabs and 40,000 Jews, Jaffa is one of the country’s few mixed cities, which in itself creates problems.
The Arab women of Jaffa are held back by traditional, societal and political constraints. Poverty due to high unemployment rates, early marriages, gender-based violence and oppression and discrimination based on gender and nationality pose obstacles to the women. Additionally, the high cost of living, high rent, crowded houses, threat of eviction and/or a lack of housing for a growing population make everyday life a challenge.
Younes worked with the city’s probation services for six years, and through her interactions with the women of the city she recognized the problems of local young girls and women.
“During a leave of absence from work following childbirth, I volunteered at a club for young girls,” she says. It was when an older woman went to the club in search of help that Younes had to turn her away because the club catered only for youth. “I didn’t know where to tell her to go to find help,” she explains.
With the realization that there was a lack of services to aid and guide older women and a lack of places where women could go in their search for enrichment, Younes decided that she wanted to do something to alleviate the problems and benefit the women.
After studying the situation, consulting with people and searching the Internet, she found out that there were organizations for women in the north and south of Israel, but nothing in the center. So, taking the needs and problems of the women of Jaffa into consideration, Younes opened Arous el-Bahr in 2007.
The non-profit organization had its beginnings in a storage place belonging to Younes’s friend, and from there computer courses were offered. She recalls that people were kind enough to donate their belongings – a table from here, a chair from there – and the organization was off the ground.
The organization is now run from a different location, and four years later it is still going strong.
Younes believes that Jaffa’s women’s problems must be met head-on through the empowerment of women.
Arous el-Bahr stands by the belief that women are entitled to full rights and equal opportunities. When these goals have been reached, women will have the ability to make social changes to improve their own lives.
With the help of other established organizations, Arous el-Bahr creates programs that offer guidance and education, with the ultimate goal of empowering women so that they can better their lives.
The organization’s programs follow two different paths – economic empowerment for women and community empowerment. According to Younes, many of the women who participate in Arous el-Bahr’s economic empowerment activities have not completed high school, so they need help dealing with their financial needs. Guidance is provided so that women feel prepared to search for employment – help finding out what opportunities are available to them, how to write a CV and what to do at a job interview, in addition to an introduction to business skills. With their newly acquired skills, women approach the job market feeling motivated and confident.
Community empowerment programs include language and computer classes, films and activities such as trips to Jerusalem, Acre, Haifa and the Beduin village of Lakiya. Lectures covering issues such as women’s rights, women’s health and financial planning are held every two weeks. In addition, information is provided for those who have questions or problems concerning their legal rights; this includes help dealing with the local municipality, various social service institutions and other government offices.
The goal of all activities is to increase the women’s awareness of their rights and to empower them with this new knowledge.
Younes estimates that 65 to 70 percent of the women who have taken courses through Arous el-Bahr have been able to find work, whether in flower shops, in child care or in phone companies or other service-oriented companies that have a need for Arabic speakers.
One very successful program run from Arous el-Bahr is a sewing project.
For two years, a group of women have been sewing colorful cloth dolls to be sold in Israeli stores.
Nadia, who has been involved with the project for just a few months, is happy to be working. “Work takes away my boredom and I am making money for my house,” she says. “Life is hard so I have to help my husband.
A household needs two hands to work; one is not enough,” she explains over the hum of the sewing machines.
Work hours are very flexible so the women can make money and still have time to take care of their families and homes – an ideal work environment.
In addition to the dolls, they make sleeves to cover paper coffee cups and protect hands from the heat of the coffee.
The cloth is first embroidered with Palestinian designs in Twana, a small village near Hebron, and then brought to Jaffa where it is sewn into sleeves.
These are marketed by a business in the United States.
In a sense, a form of coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis is developing from Arous el-Bahr. Israeli doll designer Rosanna Alon explains, “Working with the ladies from Arous el- Bahr is about women and peace. We can talk about normal things in everyday life. Sewing is a peaceful occupation that can bring contact between people.”
When the organization opened, only women between the ages of 30 and 40 participated in activities. Now women as young as 18 and as old as 75 attend classes, lectures and activities.
“We have touched hundreds of women’s lives,” Younes says. She sees the women changing for the better.
“Women who did not have much in their lives are now working, contributing money to their homes and families, and this strengthens them.”
Baloum echoes her words. The women she has worked with “want to take more courses and to be more knowledgeable. The women’s personalities change as they become more organized.” Baloum continues, “When a woman works, she no longer puts herself last. She can say to herself ‘I am important!’”