Kayan - Feminist Organization

Kayan is a group of feminists who aim to advance the status of Arab women in Israel.
 
Kayan, which means 'Being' in Arabic, is a feminist organization established by and for Arab women living in Israel. The founders of Kayan came together through their shared experience as women who are minority citizens of Israel and members of an often patriarchal Arab society. In order to address these specific challenges Kayan was founded in 1998 as a capacity-building non profit organization devoted to personal and collective women's empowerment. The facilitators, community organizers and lawyers of Kayan offer knowledge-based trainings, mentoring programs, advocacy-free legal advice, and workshops that are geared to advance the status of all Arab women in Israel. Empowering individual women and women's groups to be pro-active, Kayan prepares women to become activists, leaders and advocates for themselves who take on the role of change-makers in society, making significant improvements in the community and challenging roles and expectations in the process. Through these programs Arab women have both developed personally and formed self-governed groups collectively, accomplishing goals ranging from the overhauling of a Public Transport system to creating a Community Women's Club. In all activities Kayan promotes women's being :  to be visible, to be vocal and to be valued.

kayan.org.il