Nariman El Chamaa, journalist and political activist. President of the NGO Donia for Sustainable Development.
Lebanon’s history is full of the struggle of its women, politically, socially, unionically, and civilly. Perhaps what he has witnessed since the uprising of October 17, 2019, was the best evidence of the strength of Lebanese women and their pivotal role in the arenas.
But experience has shown that the strength of presence on the ground, even if it is a major factor, is not enough to take away women’s rights, especially when they encounter the wall of discriminatory laws, both civil and sectarian. Especially since the political and religious authorities have been coexisting in Lebanon since its inception.
Facts
At a quick glance, the history of injustice against women in Lebanon becomes clear, as no woman in the history of the country has reached the position of President of the Republic, Prime Minister, or Speaker of Parliament. At the ministerial level, the current government includes only one woman out of 24 ministers.
This is not an exception. In the history of Lebanon as a whole, women’s participation in government was modest or non-existent. Perhaps the only achievement was during the era of Prime Minister Hassan Diab in 2020, when women held 6 ministerial portfolios, including the Ministry of Defense. This is the only time in the history of Lebanon. It was also the only time that a woman was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister.
At the parliamentary level, Lebanon legally approved the right to vote and run for Lebanese women in 1963, and thus it was considered the first Arab country to ratify this right. But in practice, no woman entered the Parliament until 10 years later. This was by appointment, not election. In fact, she inherited the position from her deceased father.
If we look at the parliamentary chambers after the civil war, we find some progress in the level of women’s political representation in parliament, but it is still very low and slow, so the percentage did not exceed 4.6 percent, and all those seats from 1991 until 2022 were held by only 14 women. Who are these women?
Most of the women who entered Parliament did not do so as an original, independent of men, but rather because they were wives, sisters, widows, or daughters of politicians and martyrs. They automatically became responsible before public opinion for protecting what they inherited from those men who paved the way to parliament for them, and for defending their parties’ gains, even at the expense of women’s votes and rights.
This raises an important question: What are the obstacles facing Lebanese women that prevent them from entering parliament in an authentic way?
In fact, the obstacles are many and complex, including: the electoral law, the high ceiling on electoral spending, the lack of a women’s quota, and other factors that we will present later.
Official photo of Najib Mikati’s third government, September 2021
Electoral system
The electoral law in Lebanon is the number one enemy of women. This small country, which includes about 18 religious’ sects, has had its parliamentary seats (128 seats) distributed sectarianly and regionally since after the civil war (1975-1990), allowing politicians in power to always hold the seats, and men are often chosen to be representatives of the religious sects.
Therefore, many saw that the electoral law was in the interest of the political elite, established the legitimacy of the tax system, and preserved the gains of those in power.
Accordingly, the battle of independents and opponents has become more complex, especially over women candidates who do not come from political families. Most of them also do not have the tools to fight the battle in the Lebanese way, due to the tension of sectarian, regional and familial fanaticism, jumping over the laws, lavishing political money and the costs of operating electoral machines, as well as the exaggerated cost of media appearances.
To make matters worse, the ceiling for electoral spending is too high to serve the political parties in power, and independents, especially women, cannot keep up with it. The economic crisis also created an incubator environment for electoral money chaos, and the cash system and lack of financial transparency contributed to perpetuating corruption and chaos.
This is in addition to not introducing the “women’s quota” into the electoral law, as Parliament rejected the proposed law at the end of 2021 when it was put up for discussion, due to opposition from most political parties within the Council. Most parties claimed that the “quota” might shake the sectarian balance within Parliament, and that it would be difficult to calculate it in a way that preserves and guarantees the distribution of parliamentary seats on the map of the sectarian and regional system.
Therefore, we can only call this political violence against Lebanese women, along with other types of violence.
Other obstacles
If we go beyond the electoral system, we also find many factors that may not constitute direct obstacles, but they have a significant impact on women’s political participation, which are economic and social factors.
Women in Lebanon face economic violence on several levels, including: difficulty in obtaining equal job opportunities, unequal wages and promotions in the career ladder, and stereotyping in professions.
Personal status laws also do not provide protection and equality for women, starting with the right to divorce, to lengthy and expensive litigation procedures, and bargaining over alimony and child custody. This discrimination is not only between men and women, but also between men and women from different religious sects.
@vecteezy
There is also invisible work, as housework and caring for children and the elderly in the family are considered the exclusive responsibility of women, which places burdens on women that affect their career advancement, economic status, and of course participation in public affairs.
All of the above contributes to the fragility of the situation of Lebanese women, and makes their political participation a major challenge, in light of their facing other challenges at the personal and family level, as some families in Lebanon still encourage and support their male children to participate politically and prevent women according to tradition.
Solutions
There is no doubt that it cannot continue like this. Many international and local feminist organizations have worked at several levels to narrow the gender gap and achieve justice and equality. As we mentioned previously, some progress has been achieved, but it is very slow, so there is still much that needs to be done. One of the importants:
It is necessary to reconcile international instruments with national laws and public policy frameworks, abolish all forms of discrimination from legislation and policies, establish executive oversight over them, and apply strict penalties for all types of discrimination against women and violations of their rights.
Establishing a civil (non-sectarian, religious) electoral law, reducing the ceiling on electoral spending, imposing strict control on spending, and reducing candidacy fees to allow greater participation of women.
Adopting a quota for women in all decision-making centers, such as: Parliament, local councils, professional and labor unions, and elected councils in political parties, at a rate of no less than 30 percent as a temporary measure.
Building the capabilities of women in the administrative, political, legislative and electoral campaign management fields. Allocating media spaces for women and reducing their costs.
Working to empower women economically and prevent all forms of economic violence. What may contribute to this is the ratification of the International Labor Convention No. 190 and the recommendations attached to it regarding the prevention of violence and harassment in the field of work. This also requires amending the Labor Law, the Penal Code, and the Harassment Law to ensure optimal protection for women and all groups. Fragile.
Certainly, this must be accompanied by advocacy and community awareness campaigns to highlight the benefit that accrues to society as a whole through women’s participation in leadership and decision-making, and to clarify the purpose of taking temporary measures.
In conclusion, women’s participation in politics and decision-making is an important and necessary issue for a society in which equality and justice are achieved, and this requires joint efforts from society, government, and institutions to make the necessary reforms to achieve gender equality and support women’s role in the development and democracy that we aspire to achieve in Lebanon.
