Lebanese Women And The Law

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Can an outrage over women’s treatment in the law create successful single-issue politicians?

Screen shot 2009-11-09 at 8.09.19 PM
Photo by Lara Zankoul

So apparently, I can prevent my wife from traveling if I wanted to. I could abuse her, beat her and forcibly summon her to my home whenever I so demand. It seems the Lebanese penal code couldn’t care less about what I do in my own house. So i learned from reading this excellent article in the Daily Star by Josie Ensor and Dalila Mahdawi.

We knew it all along. The Lebanese rulebook is littered with laws that are obsolete, decrepit and outright anachronistic. Some of them are funny. For example, if you fall from the balcony on someone’s car, it’s your own fault. But the rest, like those relating to women, are not. They are unfair and very consequential. They split families, they break souls and they force many people to make difficult choices.

The matter got me thinking. We are supposedly a democracy, and if i’m not mistaken, we have more female voters than we have male ones. Why won’t Lebanese women vote in more sister lawmakers that would improve their lot?

I blame “electoral lists”, the set-menu system that encourages aspirant politicians to coalesce around zo3ama (Big Men) with big pockets/guns. This leaves us with a parliament where a handful of honchos set up the big-picture agenda and ignore the domestic mundane topics.

And yet the laws are so shocking I couldn’t help but wonder: Imagine a certain Lady XX deciding to run for elections. Now imagine her creating a clever ad campaign that exposes these individual laws (with real examples of their tragic consequences), with the simple promise: If you elect me, I will dedicate myself to changing these laws. It’s all I’m going to parliament to do, I will do nothing else.

Would I be too optimistic if I believe that Lebanon has enough sensible people to vote for her and get her elected?

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Discussion

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I would say it’s unfortunately too optimistic to think that a lot of people would actually vote for her… But talking about this is a baby-step… Thanks for this post :)

Posted by Maya | November 10, 2009, 7:28 am
Thx for standing up for us :D

Posted by Darine Sabbagh | November 10, 2009, 7:36 am
I have to agree with maya on both points. I think it’s too soon still, the mindset is still not developed. However, if we don’t start tackling these issues and bringing them out into the open then it will surely never be addressed and reform will never happen.

Posted by Bethany Kehdy | November 10, 2009, 9:13 am
I honestly think the majority of Lebanese women just don’t know about the discrimination against them. The amount of supposedly middle-class, educated women that have told me women have no problems here, or that discrimination is only a Muslim woman’s issue, is simply shocking! Many here still prioritize sectarian affiliation over political standing. The result is even if we have elections, we get stuck with the “old guard” whose only concern is to cling onto their position and power.
In my opinion, the problem with female candidates is that most often, they come from big political families and are likewise simply interested in perpetuating their family’s name and keeping their son/husband’s seat in parliament warm.

Women that don’t come from political backgrounds simply don’t have any money to run campaigns, because no one wants to “risk” investing in a woman they think no-one will vote for.

15 years on from the Civil War and where are we? We have the same names and faces in government, preaching to us about democracy and liberty, and the same sectarian divisions. It’s little surprise then, that women’s rights, or human rights in general, are buried under the rubble.

Posted by Dalila Mahdawi | November 10, 2009, 2:09 pm
…and people actually have the nerve to get offended when Oprah says Lebanon is a ‘conservative country’ :)

Posted by Delirious | November 10, 2009, 2:58 pm
The social change can come by educating capable mothers who are knowledgeable about life; giving freedom to women; a man can change his morals, thoughts, and feelings by leading a common life with a woman; as there is an inborn tendency towards the attraction of mutual affection.

—Mustafa Kemal

Posted by Elias | November 10, 2009, 3:07 pm
I think it depends where she runs for elections. Such a candidate is electable in Beirut, but not Baalbeck.

Posted by OH | November 10, 2009, 3:11 pm
Too optimistic :(
Lady x will never get elected. Women arent standing up for themselves and continue to pay the price for it. The laws wont change with simply getting a woman elected. Women need to focus more on the civil society and work through associations in order to get things moving. But lets not kid ourselves, so long religious laws govern the personal status of lebanese citizens, injustices and inequalities will never cease.

Posted by Dania | November 10, 2009, 4:08 pm
Thank you all for your comments..

Maya and Darine,

You shouldn’t thank me for the post. In-your-face injustices deserve to be written about. This is not a favor, this is a duty :)

Beth,

We can never tell unless we try right?

Dalila,

Thank you very much for your comment. I believe you’re one of the authors of the DS article. I just checked out your blog. Didn’t know you had one. I added it to my “Lebanese Bloggers” stream on the sidebar..

Delirious,

I guess the entire point of the post was to correct misconceptions people have about Lebanese conservatism and modernity..

Elias,

Amen to Ataturk, do you know that my grandfather was named Mustapha Kemal after him? When my turn came, the Kemal was dropped out :)

OH,

Even in beirut, she’ll have a very tough time competing against the Hariri-Aoun death match..

Posted by Mustapha | November 10, 2009, 4:12 pm
Dania,

Long time! Easy with the pessimism, we never thought the Syrians would go out did we? But it happened :)

Posted by Mustapha | November 10, 2009, 4:57 pm
Hi Mustapha,
2 kids with barely a year apart is a lotta work, but I always keep check on your posts even if I dont comment(u guys were/are? expecting right?) thats just coz most times am too angry at the situation to stay polite on yr blog :)
Its not pessimism, am just being realistic. Women in Lebanon arent really fighting for their rights as they should. We definitely need an lebanese Ataturk… since u already have the “Mustapha” going, care to oblige? lol

Posted by Dania | November 13, 2009, 6:37 am

Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.