Palestinians cross from Egypt to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing. (Hatem Omar, Maan Images)

"We fast a long time," says Gaza graduate Mona Ismail, 23. "Only to break our fast on a piece of onion."

She is speaking not of Ramadan but of the whole year, and year after year. She graduated in 'academic excellence in English language' from the Islamic University in Gaza. A prestigious course, and her dream. But now, there is no work she can find in line with her studies.

"I am now considering community volunteer work with organisations that offer English classes," she says.

Gaza, considered by much of the world a troubled slum, has near universal literacy, and fine centres of learning. But then, no work afterwards for most.

Women are affected more than the men. Large numbers of women graduates are now searching for simple jobs in kindergartens. Many of these are not officially registered with the education ministry, and therefore offer low wages, often as little as 100 dollars a month.

An education official says the kindergartens cannot be blamed, because they can charge only very low fees, and get little support from the ministry. "We are caught between shutting down completely and putting the kids on the street, or working in half-empty classrooms on minimal budgets," says the director of a kindergarten school.

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Ruba Ibrahim, who graduated from Al-Azhar University three years back is now teaching in a kindergarten after failing to get a proper job in a public school. "For that I need Vitamin W," she says. By 'W' she means "wasta", Arabic for connections.

A tradition-bound society limits female participation in work, Wedad Sourani, deputy director of The Society of Women Graduates in Gaza, which has more than 3,500 members, tells IPS. "Those who are lucky enough to find jobs are discriminated against in the salary they earn - even if the female is better qualified than the male."

The Palestinian Central Bureau recorded a 41.3 percent rate of participation in the labour force among those aged 15 and above last year. That means just four in ten people 15 and above are in paid work. Female employment was 15.2 percent, compared with 66.8 percent for males. Regionally, it was 17.1 percent females in the West Bank and 11.7 percent in the Gaza Strip.

Some women graduates say it is not just women who are affected. "If this was true, I would have married someone who is employed," says fresh graduate Abu Obeid. "But male graduates are also finding it hard to get jobs."

As a male graduate says, "What is the point of having higher education when we have certificates hanging on the wall but no career."

To read the full article please visit Inter Press Service.