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<p>According to UN Women, while there has been progress towards gender equality and
women’s empowerment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), for example a
closing gender gap on literacy rates and amendments to laws discriminatory to women’s
rights, the volatile context means this progress is fragile. The occupation and political
situation can increase women’s vulnerability to social and economic insecurity and
violence; this is heightened in Gaza where the situation remains dire. Female unemployment
across the OPTs stood at around 40% in 2017, whereas for males it was 24%. The last
available survey from 2010/11 shows that 37% (around 30% in the West Bank and over
51% in Gaza) of ever-married women suffered from a form of violence within the household.
UN Women and other UN agencies support the Palestinian Authority in the implementation
of gender-sensitive plans and policy-level initiatives to ensure the protection of
women’s rights.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is a long-term supporter of the UN Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) which works to ensure gender equality
and the protection of Palestine refugees’ rights in all its programming. UNRWA supports
around 1 million Palestinian refugee women across the OPTs and protects their rights
to health, water and sanitation, shelter and food security. UNRWA ensures an inclusive
approach to protecting children’s right to an education (covering 160,000 girls in
the West Bank and Gaza), provides antenatal and postnatal care for more than 50,000
women, and works to protect women and children from violence through access to services
and community engagement.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is also working to protect women’s
economic rights across the OPTs. Our Palestinian Market Development Programme supported
a total of 219 female-owned managed enterprises from 2013 to 2018 and helped to create
over 800 jobs for women. A new £38 million economic development programme will address
barriers faced by women to employment and economic opportunities.</p>
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