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Our History and Progress
In the late 1980's, Arab women in Haifa and Northern Israel were active in the feminist center, battered women's shelters, rape crisis center, as volunteers and as paid staff. These women helped create, develop and maintain programs and crisis-services for Arab women. By the mid-1990's, the feminist organizations were the place where women activists could meet, work together, and discuss concerns. Kayan, established by Arab-Israeli women in 1998 and registered as a non-profit organization in 1999, is the outgrowth of this exchange. As the first organization set up for Arab women focused on rights-based concerns – personal, social and economic rights – the founders made a breakthrough, moving from a hotline concept for combating violence, to a feminist capacity-building organization, reaching women regionally and nationally.
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