Dr. Luay Shabana, head of the Palestinian Census Department, stated on Thursday that the Israeli occupation forces kidnapped more than 700 Palestinian women since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada late September 2000.Shabana added that currently there are 98 women who are still imprisoned.
The statements of Shabana came in a press release on the conditions of the Palestinian women as the world prepares to celebrate the International Women Day next Saturday March 8.
He said that on the second quarter of 2007 the percentage of female, 15 years and older, receiving education was 23%, while the percentage of males was 21.8%.
Dr. Shabana added that 9.6% of the Palestinian women, 15 years and older, are illiterate, while 2.7% of the males are illiterate. He added that 35.6% of the women have secondary school certificates in comparison to 37% of the males, and that only 6.6% of the women have B.A degrees or higher in comparison to 9.8% of the males who receives similar degrees.
Statistics revealed that 11.2% of the Palestinian women worked are judges in 2006, and 12.9% of the Palestinian legislators in 2006 were women in comparison to 5.7% in 1996.
Also, 7.4% of the Palestinian ambassadors were women in 2006, and 21.1% of the general-prosecutors were also women in 2006.
In the work sector, 15.7% of the women were part of the work force in the third quarter of 2007. One-fifth of the Palestinian women are unemployed.
