Summary
A Palestinian women’s organization based at the Arab Community Center (Chicago) in Chicago that mobilized immigrant women on the national question and against patriarchal norms (Palestinian Chicago — Identity in Exile, PDF p.65).
Details
- The UPWA accomplished its mobilization through outreach to women in their homes as well as through conferences and workshops, and forged public political roles for women by bussing them to rallies and protests in the Loop (Cainkar 1988, 207–8, as cited) (PDF p.65).
- Headquartered at the ACC, it played a key role in the logistics of the First Intifada campaigns, integrating women into the work; English classes attracted women initially and teachers then recruited their students into UPWA and ACC work (PDF p.93).
- Its annual banquet attracted more than a thousand participants; Manal described raising twenty, thirty, forty thousand dollars at the annual banquet (PDF p.94-95).
- The new generation of AAAN leaders had grown up participating in UPWA programs situated at the ACC (PDF p.87); Dima (pseudonym) had worked with Hatem Abudayyeh’s mother to lead the UPWA (PDF p.102).
Related pages
Arab Community Center (Chicago) · Arab American Action Network · Palestinian Chicago