RAMALLAH, March 7, 2018 (WAFA) – About half of Palestinian women participants in the labor force were unemployed by the end of 2016, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report on Wednesday, the eve of the International Women’s Day.

It said unemployment rate among women participants in the labor force was 47.4% compared to 22.3% for participant males.

The highest rate, 65.8%, was among females aged between 15 and 29 years, while unemployment rate reached 53.8% among women who completed 13 school years and above.

The female participation rate in the labor force was 19.0% of the total female population at work age in 2017, compared to 10.3% in 2001, while the male participation rate was 71.2% in 2017.

Average daily wage for females was 84.6 Israeli shekels (app. $25) compared to 119.6 shekels (app. $35) for males.

The PCBS said women represented half of the Palestinian population by the end of 2017 at a ratio of 103 males for every 100 females.

The percentage of female-headed households in Palestine was 10.6% in 2017, 11.2% in the West Bank and 9.5% in Gaza Strip.

Early marriage reached 20.5% among females and 1.0% among males of the total married population in Palestine; the rate was 19.9% out of the total married population in West Bank and 21.6% out of the total married population in Gaza Strip at the end 2016, said the PCBS.

The highest rate of female early marriage in the West Bank was in Hebron 36.8%, and the lowest was in Jericho and the Jordan Valley 1.2%, and in Gaza Strip, the highest rate of early female marriage was 42.1% in Gaza Governorate while the lowest rate was in Deir al-Balah 7.1%.

Despite the rise in literacy rate among females over the last decade, the gap is still in favor of males by 3.0 - female literacy rate was 95.6% compared to 98.6% for male literacy in the year 2017.

Data showed that male enrollment in high schools was 60.5%, compared to female enrollment which was 80.4% for the year 2016-2017.

In 2017; 21.2% of the members of the local councils were females in the West Bank while 78.8% were males.

In 2016, 82.7% of judges were male, compared to 17.3% female, while 66.6% of registered lawyers were male, compared to 33.4% female and 82.0% of members of the public prosecution staff were male, compared to 18.0% female.

Furthermore, Palestinian female ambassadors represented 5.8% compared to 94.2% male. Females represented 32.3% of registered engineers with the Union of Engineers while male represented 67.7%. On the other hand, in 2016, 12.4% of members of student councils in West Bank universities were females, compared to 87.6% males.

In the public sector, females represented 42.7% of civil servants, compared to 57.3% male civil servant. In the public civil sector, female director generals represented 11.3% of the total director generals, compared to 88.7% males in the same post.

M.K.