Madleen Kullab: The Fisherwoman Who Made the Sea Her Livelihood

Madleen Kullab grew up on the shore of Gaza, in a family where the sea was not only a place, but a source of survival. Her father was a fisherman, and from a young age she followed him to the water with her younger brother, learning the names of fish, the weight of nets, and the rhythm of the sea.

She was still a child when her father became ill and could no longer fish as before. At the age of 13, Madleen made a decision that would shape the rest of her life: she would continue his work.

It was not an easy decision. Fishing in Gaza was already difficult, with restrictions, economic hardship, and limited access to the sea. It was also a field almost entirely dominated by men. For many in the community, the idea of a young woman working as a fisherwoman was unfamiliar, even unacceptable.

At first, Madleen faced surprise, criticism and doubt. Some told her the sea was “for men”. Others questioned whether she could carry the physical and social burden of the work. But for Madleen, fishing was not about proving a point. It was about responsibility, food, dignity and keeping her family standing.

She learned to cast and pull nets, repair them by hand, read the movement of currents, navigate storms, and operate and maintain boats and engines in difficult maritime conditions. Over time, the port that had once looked at her with hesitation became part of her community. She earned respect not by confrontation, but through persistence, skill and relationship-building.

“I did not want to fight everyone,” she says. “I wanted them to see me as part of the place.”

Madleen’s experience shows how women often enter non-traditional sectors not because the path is open, but because their families and communities need them to step forward. Her leadership was built through daily labour — through early mornings, heavy nets, unpredictable weather and the constant pressure of earning a livelihood under blockade conditions.

In 2013, Madleen took another step. Through a women’s training and empowerment programme, she learned that she could access a bank loan. It was the first time she imagined expanding beyond fishing. With a loan of USD 15,000, she bought a tourism boat and transformed it into a small livelihood initiative. She added seats and created a space where families and children could experience the sea differently.

For Madleen, the boat was more than a business investment. It was a symbol of possibility. For the first time, the sea was not only a place of hard labour and risk, but also a place where people could smile, rest and imagine something beyond hardship.

Her story began to travel beyond Gaza when a visiting solidarity activist photographed her working at the port. The image connected Madleen’s life to people outside Gaza and helped bring wider attention to her story as one of the first Palestinian women working in fishing.

But the war in Gaza brought new loss. Madleen and her family were displaced multiple times. Her father, the person who first introduced her to the sea, passed away during the war. The port was damaged, and the boat she had built as an alternative source of income was destroyed. The debt remained, even after the boat was gone.

For Madleen, the loss was not only financial. The boat represented years of work, risk and hope. Its destruction meant the loss of a bridge to a more secure life.

Still, she returned to the sea.

Her story is not one of easy resilience. It is a story of repeated loss, responsibility and the determination to keep going. Madleen continues to see the sea as part of her identity, but also as part of a wider struggle for livelihood, dignity and recognition.

Today, at 31, Madleen is also a wife and mother of five. In 2018, she married a fisherman, and together they built a life connected to the sea. Marriage and motherhood did not take her away from her profession. She continued to work, carrying both the responsibilities of family care and the demands of earning a livelihood in one of Gaza’s most difficult sectors.

Her children are also growing up close to the water. They are learning to swim and, like their mother, they love the sea. For Madleen, this connection is deeply personal. The sea is part of her family’s past, present and future.

Today, she waits for the war to end so she can begin rebuilding her professional life and return to work alongside her husband. Her hope is not only to recover what was lost, but to restore the livelihood, dignity and sense of purpose that the sea has always given her.

Madleen wants her story to be told not as an exception, but as evidence of what women in Gaza carry every day: economic responsibility, family care, loss, courage and the will to continue. She wants the world to understand that women’s leadership is not always found in formal positions. Sometimes it is found in a woman standing on a boat before sunrise, holding a net, and refusing to disappear.

“I am not just a fisherwoman alone on the shore,” Madleen says. “I am a daughter of the sea, carrying what many Palestinian women carry: exhaustion, hope and determination.”

Madleen’s journey reflects the strength of women working at the frontlines of survival and livelihoods in Gaza. Through fishing, entrepreneurship and persistence, she challenged social barriers, supported her family and created new possibilities in one of the most difficult environments.

Her story is also a reminder that women’s economic empowerment must include those working in informal, risky and non-traditional sectors — women whose labour often sustains families and communities, even when it remains unseen.

For Madleen, the sea remains uncertain. But it also remains a place of work, memory and return.

“The sea knows me,” she says. “And I know that the next wave may carry my livelihood.”