Wisam Abu Ghosh PhD
Training women on Agritourism skills as part of an International Development project activity for Supporting the development and creation of micro and small businesses in target communities (Hebron Villages) through technical training and financial support
Empowering Women through Engagement in the Tourism Sector: An examination of international development projects and public policies in Palestinian villages
Supervisors: Stroma Cole, Ilaria Pappalepore
This study focuses on how International Development Projects (IDPs) aimed at boosting tourism in marginalised Palestinian villages in the West Bank and East Jerusalem may empower and develop Palestinian women. By examining both past and present IDPs, it seeks to comprehend the obstacles to, and limitations placed on, women’s through tourism to create a useful empowerment paradigm within the Palestinian context.
Using qualitative research of projects run by two NGOs and semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders, a method will develop to assess relevant policies and regulations on gender and tourism, comprehend the intersectionality of tourist development, and examine the women empowerment paradigm as a development method in underdeveloped countries.
The empowerment paradigm used by donor programmes like European Union Development Aid and is primarily based on a Eurocentric approach to viewing the world. Drawing from the works of prominent scholars such as Paulo Freire, Amartya Sen, Naila Kabeer, Robert Chambers and Deepa Narayan, the research challenges the status quo and explores how empowerment can be a central approach in development.
The fundamental argument of the research is that when international development programmes are implemented in Palestinian regions with a gender-targeted approach, they fail to take into account the reality faced by women. This reflects how the majority of research and development assistance has been predicated on Western models and most development projects’ epistemologies, theories, methods and results are still influenced by Western hegemony and ideology. The obstacles faced by women in the tourist industry are further compounded by the minimal participation of Palestinian women in the industry and the dearth of international tourism-focused projects.