“I Would Define It as Hope”: Palestinian Feminist Organizing in Gaza as a Social Determinant of Health

Gender is a primary social determinant of health, particularly within settings characterized by settler colonialism. Yet, it is not gender itself, but rather the social construction of it, and the accompanying inequalities and injustices (intersecting with and worsened by the violence and oppression of settler colonialism), that cause ill-health. Using a grounded theory approach with interview data from 16 Palestinian feminists in Gaza, authors examined gender within settler colonial war and violence not as a static forecast of health but as a dynamic, evolving factor that women themselves confront via intersectional feminist organizing. In this article, authors integrate multiple disciplines to explore relationships between sociopolitical structures and health for women in Gaza. Findings highlight how, despite its challenges, feminist organizing, as a cross-disciplinary, liberatory, collective, culturally rooted project, is a powerful determinant of women’s health. In building empowerment, joy, and justice, feminism nurtures health, even/especially within the occupations and military violence of settler colonialism. Implications include the need for increased attention to and action on the health impacts of the intimately intertwined imperatives of political and social justice for women within settler colonial contexts. Meeting at the intersection of health and social work, this work helps inform the Social Work Grand Challenge to close the health gap.