Author: Margaret Al-Rai
The study aims at identifying the economic and social ramifications that faced Palestinian women working in the informal sector during Corona Pandemic: the city of Qalqilya as a model. The study approached the literature as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, which addressed both theoretical and applied research. The significance of this recent study is the first, which dealt with the economic and social ramifications that faced Palestinian women working in the private sector during Corona Pandemic: the city of Qalqilya as a model, to the author knowledge, which in turn encourages other researchers to work on further research on this important issue.
To achieve this end, the study adopted the qualitative, research approach using the case study method. The interview is appropriate for the exploratory nature of the research. A 31-item interview questions were formulated which was divided into three sub-scales as follows: the basic information of the participants (7 items); the second section dealt with the economic ramifications (12 items), while the third section included the social ramifications (12 items) that faced Palestinian women working in the informal economy sector during Corona Pandemic in the city of Qalqilya.
The sample comprised of (10) Palestinian women working in informal economy sector at the city of Qalqilya, West Bank using the convenience sampling during 2022. The collected data was analyzed manually, calculating the frequencies, percentages, the means, and standard deviations.
The findings revealed that the economic ramifications of the Palestinian women in Qalqilya before the Corona pandemic were weak and fragile, since the wages paid to them were limited and below the minimum wages. Additionally, the corona pandemic has affected negatively their economic situation, taken into consideration the lockdown, the unavailability of any jobs, and the lack of any protection to them from the Palestinian government.
Also the study results showed that women's simple savings were subject to a serious depletion that threatened their safety and future, which affected negatively their abilities and skills in finding immediate living solutions and alternatives to cover their daily life basic needs.
In the social context, Corona pandemic caused psychological stress and various social problems for working women, where feelings of anxiety, fear and tension were a general feature of social relations associated with the concept of social spacing imposed by direct injury protection measures, in the absence of an incubator social environment and supporting institutions to address such fears. It also caused them trouble returning to work, as they were subjected to a culture of repression and prevention from leaving the home by males in the family, due to pandemics and external risks, and were subject to pressure and bargaining over their right to remain at work.
Finally, the study confirmed the challenges that Palestinian women working in the informal sector during Corona Pandemic at the city of Qalqilya, and recommends that the impacts of the Corona pandemic on the Palestinian working women should be treated and recognized by women's institutions and decision makers as a problem that harms the interests and earnings of working women, and ensures that women are provided with equitable social policies to prevent their situation from worsening within the framework of sustainable solutions. Besides, further research is essential to expand understanding of the economic and social ramifications that faced Palestinian women working in the informal sector in the Palestinian society in general, and in the city of Qalqilya in particular, using sampling survey and quantitative research design.
Keywords: Ramifications, labor, women, economic, social, Corona pandemic, Palestine.
Margaret Al-Rai, MA. Women Studies, Department of Women Studies, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Arts, An-Najah University, Main Campus, Nablus, Palestine. Independent Researcher, Qalqilya, Palestine. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
