From resilience to resistance: Palestinian women's agency in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

For decades, within the field of international relations theories and public opinion at large, a pervasive bias has persisted regarding the passive role of women in wartime, often solely portrayed as victims, mothers, caregivers, homemakers, and individuals to be protected by men. This interdisciplinary Master’s Thesis aims to challenge this stereotype surrounding women's roles in conflicts, reframing them not as passive victims but as active agents. The study uses the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a case study, focusing particularly on how Palestinian women, through acts of resistance and resilience, have acted and continue to act to counter the ongoing violence they face daily.