Work and Family Stressors, Depression, and Anxiety among Working Women in Gaza Strip

Gaza’s population suffers from a multitude of problems, including high levels of unemployment, poverty and polluted water sources. Gazan women in particular have to struggle to support their families because of few job options available to them. Many women have business ideas that could bring in revenue. They just lack support and financial backing to get started. In the fourth quarter of 2012, women’s participation in the labor market reached to 17.9% of labor market (PCBS, 2012) [1]. About 66.5% of Palestinian women do not participate in the work market because of homework duties, home or education-related reasons. Women work in several areas such as administrative, technical and service sectors. The majority of working women are employed by the health and education sectors (75.35%) followed by the agriculture sector (25.9%) and the trade and services sector (7.9%). Only a small portion (0.1%) of women works at the building and construction sectors. The proportion of women in the labor government institutions constitutes 40% of the total workers and the proportion of women’s participation in private company’s public in institutions was estimated to be about 18.3% in 2012. In Gaza Strip, the public sector is the main