03 January 2005

BEIRUT: Lebanese women have come a long way in their struggle for social justice, despite many challenges that still remain.

Women in Lebanon can proudly reflect on at least seven decades of fighting for equality, peace and development while looking forward with hope to a not-too-distant future in which women participate as equals with men in all aspects of society.

Over the past year, several remarkable women have left their fingerprints on the human, cultural and political life of our society. Be it our current first lady, Andree Lahoud, the former first lady Mona Hrawi, the current MP Nayla Mouawad, or her colleague in Parliament, MP Bahia Hariri, these women have all set important examples that Lebanese women can look up to with pride. They have used their authority and stature to try to enhance the role of women and to maximize their impact on Lebanon's daily life.

Lebanese first lady Andree Lahoud is a fine example of a woman who uses her position to help others in need. She was especially active this year in her work with various charitable foundations dedicated to assisting orphans and the disabled regardless of their confessional status.

When speaking to The Daily Star about the role of Lebanese women in contemporary society, the first lady stressed that their role as freedom fighters should not be ignored. "Lebanese women have a distinctive characteristic which sets them apart from other women around the world," she said. "They have stood up and fought the occupation by staying on their land and by teaching their children to love their country. Nobody can deny their part in the liberation."

Another very popular and beloved character among Lebanese women, Zghorta MP Nayla Mouawad, broke new ground in the struggle for women's rights by announcing her candidacy for president earlier this year.

"Women are the key element for change and development, and at the same time a reflection of soundly practiced democracy," Mouawad said, adding that the lack of female participation in Arab societies is one of the main reasons behind the lack of development in the region.

"There has been a thorough study published by the United Nations Development Program sometime earlier, concerning human development. The final report noted that the Arab region ranked among the top countries due to its high individual income and among the lowest in chart concerning human development. One of the main reasons behind the development setback was the weak - if not the lack of - participation of women at any level."

She said she would endorse a proposal regarding setting a specified quota for women's participation in politics, if such a proposal goes to Parliament.

Mouawad pointed out that "today there is a golden opportunity to change the situation. This opportunity is presented by the upcoming parliamentary elections in May, which I consider as a main entrance to women's participation in the political life."

Parliamentary elections are set to take place throughout Lebanon in May 2004, and many women are hopeful that several female candidates will be elected to office.

As head of the parliamentary education committee, Hariri is another example of a hard-working Lebanese woman who strives to empower other women. Expressing her admiration for Lebanese women, Hariri said that "the Lebanese woman is efficient and supports the morals of our society through her role as a housewife, her efforts to hold the family together and the emphasis she puts on her children's education. This can be clearly found throughout the Lebanese areas."

However, in Lebanon, the political road that lies before women is still replete with challenges. The nomination of two female ministers - Leila Solh as industry minister and Wafaa Diqa Hamzeh as minister of state - in the newly formed Cabinet three months ago was a political "innovation," a breakthrough, in Lebanese history.

Unfortunately, with political life in Lebanon still run by political families, women's position in this domain still has a long way to go.

"Women's liberation in this country is an ongoing struggle between modernists and radical religious conservatives," said Mona Khalaf, head of the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.

"Forced marriages for instance and the lack of control women still have over their life are an irrefutable proof of how patriarchal this society still is," Khalaf said.

"Up until today, many - if not most - of us women don't have the right to decide who we would like to marry or where we would like to live. Tribal rules are in place in the society."

However, as recent statistics have demonstrated, an increasing number of single women were opting to live away from home, despite the fact that society did not go easy with them on that.

"An increasing number of women are currently choosing not to marry and hence, an increasing number of single women are purchasing homes," said sociologist Ghada Khoury, "recent statistics showed that around 10 percent of single women aged 30 and above live by themselves."

The prohibition of transference of nationality from mother to child - a major problem women still face in this country - remains unsolved.

Yasmine was just 8 years old when her Irish father died in 1974, leaving her in the care of her Lebanese mother. Although Yasmine's family lived in Lebanon, the child's mother was not allowed to pass on her Lebanese nationality. Only her father - had he been Lebanese - could have granted her that right.

To ensure her daughter's legal residency, Yasmine's mother was forced to make a "very unpleasant trip to the Surete Generale each year to apply for a resident permit."

Now, over a quarter of a century later, virtually nothing has changed and Yasmine (not her real name), like virtually all women across the Arab world, continues to be excluded from the basic right of citizenship.

"Not only does this deny women their essential rights as citizens, it also denies their children and spouses fundamental rights as human beings," said Lina Abu Habib, director of the Center for Research and Training for Development (CRTD).

With the sole exception of Tunisia, where recently women have been allowed - but only under strict guidelines - to pass on citizenship to a Tunisian-born child, it is only men who can pass their nationality on to their wives and children.

According to a report recently released by CRTD, "for the average Arab woman, basic citizenship rights such as the right to vote, to have an identity card or a passport, to access social protection schemes and entitlements, to send children to school, to marry, to travel ... and to pass on citizenship to their children are either lacking or granted through the mediation of a male family member."

The CRTD research, which was funded by the United Nations Development Program of Governance in the Arab Region, looks into the lives of women married to nonnationals in Arab countries - Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt - to see how the denial of these rights has affected their everyday life, not only in terms of a child's and husband's access to education, health care, land ownership and inheritance, but also in terms of psychological well being.

"I refuse to accept that my own flesh and blood, the baby I held inside me for nine months is not the same nationality as me," said one woman, quoted in the report.

Although most Arab countries are signatories to the UN's Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (along with other international conventions that grant women similar rights), not one upholds Article 9, which grants women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of children."

The first painful contact with reality is when a woman discovers she cannot register her child in national civil records. The lack of such documents can force families to live in constant fear of being stopped by police. "When it gets dark and my children are not home yet, I get scared that they were arrested by the police and that they would be kicked out of the country," said Malak, a 52-year-old woman married to a British man. "We are like prisoners in our own homes," she added.

Furthermore, many women admitted to the fear of their husband's leaving the country and taking the children with them. "This fear has led some women to bear their husbands' mistreatment and violence in order to keep their children near them," the report said.

In nearly every country across the Middle East and North Africa, the relationship between the state and women remains an indirect one, arbitrated by male kinsman - a brother, father or husband.