The exclusion of female candidate's names from campaign materials ahead of municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza has sparked a new focus on women's civil rights in Palestinian society.

Elections to decide the councils of more than 400 towns and cities in the Palestinian territories were due to be held October 8, but were suspended by Ramallah's high court last week. The fact that several slates included female candidates whose names had been replaced with 'wife of' or 'sister of' did not go unnoticed, however.

News that some election materials from villages near Hebron and Jenin excluded women's names caused an outcry on social media, birthing the Arabic hashtag 'Our names should not be covered', which quickly went viral.

Women took to Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag to say they are proud to put their names to their achievements, as well as those of their mothers, sisters and daughters. Many men did the same.

“Our names are not mere terms; our names refer to our identity,” rights activist Sumaya al-Mashharawi said in an statement.

The incident has resonated with Palestinians, making newspaper headlines and television news bulletins in the past week. It has also provided the catalyst for calls for more to be done for women's participation in public life in Palestine.

The Filastiniyat Association, a Ramallah-based NGO which fights for the equitable representation of women and girls, said the 'Our names should not be covered' campaign is a call to “all educated women to urge the patriarchal society to stop neglecting this powerful social driver”.

Filastiniyat's founder Wafa' Abdel Rahman said that although the campaign successfully got the candidate lists changed, Palestine's political parties have signed a code of conduct to ensure that women make up a minimum of 30 per cent of candidates, but were failing to live up to their pledge.

“We still need need to work harder to pressure the political system to genuinely take every measure that enables women to be more visible, not only as numbers and quotas... the road is still long.”

In Palestine, as in much of the Arab world, it is common for the name of the bride to be omitted from wedding invitations, or for men to not speak a woman's name at a public event or meetings such as political activity, al-Monitor reports.

Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Neve Dekalim, Gaza Strip, 12 September, 2005. Thousands of Palestinians from nearby Khan Younes enter Neve Dekalim at dawn to see this former Jewish settlement for the first time. Most people tried to find anything still usable in the ruins of the settlement's buildings destroyed by the Israeli army. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Al Tufa'ah, Gaza Strip, 20 January 2009. Nadji Hessenin collapses in tears on his father's grave after burying his children Shourouk Nadji Hessenin, 13, and her brother Abdallah, 12, who were instantly killed upon returning to their house in She' Af Tufa'ah by a Hamas planted booby trap intended for Israeli soldiers. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Rafah, Gaza Strip, June 2010. Most if not all the goods sold in this busy market street in Rafah are brought from Egypt through the tunnel. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Ramallah, West Bank, 13 November, 2004. Sadness and emotion among the people who are coming to honour Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at his grave in the Muqata'a. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Qalqilya, West Bank, January 2003. The only entrance to the city. Palestinian population movements are severely restricted by the Israeli army, no vehicles being allowed in or out some Palestinian cities for weeks on end. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Jenin Refugee Camp, April 2002. In order to search for Palestinian activists, the IDF stormed and occupied the camp for nine days, razing an area the size of three football pitches in the centre of this densely populated zone, totally destroying 95 houses, damaging hundreds of others, leaving 3,000 people homeless. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Ousama Jawabreh, 29, was killed when a public phone he was using in the old quarter of Nablus city exploded on 24 June 2001. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Near Jericho, West Bank, July 2001. Most of the River Jordan valley is militarily closed to the Palestinians, allowing Jewish settlements to thrive on its water and natural resources. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Kfar Kila, South Lebanon, 29 May, 2000. After the Israeli pull-out, thousands of SLA (Lebanese militia financed and trained by Israel in the occupied zone) rushed to this last point of passage in order to escape Israel; abandoning their cars and many of their belongings. For weeks, clothes hanging on the border fence were the only remaining signs of many personal and family tragedies. © Bruno Stevens Ground: Ten years of the Palestinian conflict in pictures Ain el Helweh Palestinian Camp, 15 May, 2000. School children demonstrate on the 52nd anniversary of the Palestinian exile, the 'Neqbah' ('catastrophe'). © Bruno Stevens

Men often do not refer to their mothers' names in order to save their reputations from ridicule or shame. In previous Palestinian elections, the pictures of some female candidates have been replaced with pictures of flowers and doves.

Nadia Abu Nalha, the Director of a Coalition of Women’s Organisations in the Gaza Strip, called this year's controversy a “step backwards”.

“The fact that some lists covered the names of female candidates is viewed as a serious decline… in the way these movements think, even though the actions are justified as being in line with the social character [ie conservative] in some areas,” she told Ma'an News.

“If their names are not recognised, how can women’s needs be added to the planning and coordination of the municipal agenda?“

The Central Election Commission has said that the papers in question are illegal, since women are entitled to full political participation under Palestinian law.

The elections are yet to be rescheduled after the high court’s decision to cancel given disagreements over the validity of Fatah slates in Gaza. Fatah, the secular ruling party in the West Bank, and Islamist Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, have not been in direct competition with each other for votes since 2006.

The contest is widely being viewed as a litmus test for how willing the two factions are to work together. Officials from both Hamas and Fatah have blamed each other for the delay, rendering the prospect of co-operation for any future parliamentary or presidential elections bleak.