Chapter 5
Relationship Between Women
and Environment Toward Sustainable
Development: A Case Study from Palestine
Abdelnaser Omran and Fulla Ismail Sharaf
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.
Keywords Women · Environment · Sustainable development · Questionnaire
survey · Gaza · Palestine
A. Omran (*)
Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Bright Star University, El-brega, Libya
e-mail: naser_elamroni@yahoo.co.uk
F. I. Sharaf
Palestinian Health Information Centre, Ministry of Health, Gaza Strip, Palestine
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Omran, O. Schwarz-Herion (eds.), Sustaining our Environment for Better Future,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7158-5_5
63
Relationship Between Women
and Environment Toward Sustainable
Development: A Case Study from Palestine
Abdelnaser Omran and Fulla Ismail Sharaf
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.
Keywords Women · Environment · Sustainable development · Questionnaire
survey · Gaza · Palestine
A. Omran (*)
Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Bright Star University, El-brega, Libya
e-mail: naser_elamroni@yahoo.co.uk
F. I. Sharaf
Palestinian Health Information Centre, Ministry of Health, Gaza Strip, Palestine
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Omran, O. Schwarz-Herion (eds.), Sustaining our Environment for Better Future,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7158-5_5
63