Abstract
The Jordan Valley, one of the main agricultural areas in the West Bank, has experienced key structural transformations since the Oslo Accords resulting from political, economic and environmental changes. Most of the Jordan Valley is classified as Area C, which is under complete Israeli control. Palestinians in the Jordan Valley live in poverty, are in constant fear of home-demolitions, have restricted movement, limited access to healthcare and education, and constraints on maintaining viable agricultural livelihoods. Palestinian women constitute the main labor force for agriculture in the Valley, and are among the most vulnerable groups in the population.
This study explores the changes in agriculture in the Jordan Valley, specifically those after Oslo Accords, and how these changes affected farming women’s working and living conditions, and the effects on health. We draw on qualitative in-depth interviews with 30 women, and two focus groups with 20 women from June to December, 2019 in Nweimeh-Dyouk and Jiftlik communities in the Jordan Valley.
We find that political factors have had a primary role in increasing the effects of social, economic and environmental factors, and thus affecting the living, working and health conditions of the farming women. Climate change and environmental degradation have introduced additional risks in agriculture. Concurrently, increased restrictions on farmers by Israeli settlers, including land confiscation, restrictions on accessing water resources, and restrictions on selling products, have decreased the economic benefit from agriculture. These conditions have pushed some women to either work outside the family farms or migrate to another village to work in agriculture.
Families increasingly rely on women’s work to survive, as men were arrested or injured, thereby increasing the workload on women. In addition to dealing with poor living conditions and inadequate infrastructure, this has affected their health. Most women reported that carrying heavy loads and continuous bending when harvesting have caused musculoskeletal issues. Some participants reported having health problems related to pesticides-exposure such as asthma, respiratory and skin allergies, as well as dehydration and poor nutrition.
Difficult living conditions, Israeli violations, together with occupational and environmental exposures, and lack of occupational training and safety, have negatively affected women’s health, with possibly adverse consequences for the wellbeing of their children and families who depend on them. This study raises important questions regarding the gendered experiences and effects of political and environmental transformations in the Jordan Valley on agricultural work, and the wellbeing of agricultural workers.
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