Balata Women's Research Group

While there have been numerous studies highlighting the desperate situation in Palestinian communities during the intifada years, they have generally been carried out by outsiders, whether international NGOs, UN agencies, foreign academics or even local universities. Such studies have been vital in documenting the socio-economic oppression and shifts in Palestinian society.
Yet it is also important to have some level of self-research and self-documentation, where Palestinians collect, collate, analyse and publish data on their own communities.

Furthermore, even though many academic studies have focused on the situation of women in Palestinian society, most have been carried out by male-dominated institutions.
Given the complex situation of women in the camp, it is vital that 'spaces' are created where women can document and write about 'themselves' without being subject to pressure - direct or indirect - from men.

This is far from easy.

Balatacamp.net is starting small, by sparking the creation of the Balata Women's Research Group. The Group is composed of women from Balata, some university students and others volunteering with centres or working in the home. International women provide support and advice.
The aim is that the group becomes an autonomous research collective, choosing its issues and means of data collection. The concluded studies will be distributed to research institutions and online via the balatacamp.net network.

The Group is still very much in its early days. Currently, they are researching the extent of female access to the internet in Balata. Digital technology plays an increasingly central role in male life in the camp, with many males coming into contact with the internet as least once a day. But as male technological literacy grows, a digital divide is opening up between men and women.

Balatacamp.net aims to support the women of Balata in raising their voices to the world.