History

Early activists for Palestinian women's rights in Israel

In the late 1980's, a group of Palestinian women from Haifa and the northern region were actively involved in women's centers, battered women's shelters, rape crisis centers, as volunteers and as paid staff. These women, participating in Jewish-run organizations, helped create, develop and maintain unique programs and crisis-services for Palestinian women living in Israel. By the mid-1990's, the feminist organizations were the place where these women activists could meet, talk, work together, and discuss common concerns. Kayan is the outgrowth of this exchange and was formed after a year of planning.

Kayan registered as a non-profit in 1999

As one of the first organizations set up for Palestinian-Israeli women focused on personal and collective empowerment, the founders made a conceptual breakthrough by moving away from the model of a hot-line organization to combat gender-based violence. Kayan is a feminist organization, dedicated to strengthening women's groups and initiatives and to gender-mainstreaming.