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In the framework of activating women’s participation in politics, and after the nomination of some 111 women out of 976 candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections set for May 6, the Future Movement announced its electoral list yesterday which includes 4 women out of 38 candidates. They are, besides MP Bahiya Hariri, Dima Jamali and Leila Shahud (Tripoli Minyeh-Dinniyeh) and Rula Tabash Jarudi (Beirut 2nd constituency), while noting that the Movement recruited 22 new names. On the civil society front, 7 Party declared its list which inlcudes 8 women out of 20 candidates, and they are: Victoria Khury Zwein (North Metn), Ghada Eid (Shuf), Amal Harfush (Akkar), Marie Claude Helo (Baabda), Paula Yacobian (Beirut 1st constituency), Rima Ali Hmayid (Bint Jbeil), Rania Bassil (Jbeil) and Fadwa Fayiz Nassif (Koora).
On their increasing participation in the elections, Al Hayat newspaper wrote that, women have made a significant gap in the fortified wall of the legislative candidacy process, pointing to the many female nominees on the civil society lists outside the patriarchal protection of political parties and the guardianship of clans and families that to date inherit power. This step, Al Hayat analyzed, is the culmination of efforts by women associations who decided to confront the traditional political, confessional, social and feudal authorities. Spotlighting some of the female names, L’Orient Le Jour mentioned Laury Haitayan from ‘Baladi Party’, a journalist and editor of political TV programs, who spelled out that she will focus on transparency in the oil and gas sector, . (L’Orient Le Jour, Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, Al Diyar, March 10 and 12, 2018)
 
 
In the framework of activating women’s participation in politics, and after the nomination of some 111 women out of 976 candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections set for May 6, the Future Movement announced its electoral list yesterday which includes 4 women out of 38 candidates. They are, besides MP Bahiya Hariri, Dima Jamali and Leila Shahud (Tripoli Minyeh-Dinniyeh) and Rula Tabash Jarudi (Beirut 2nd constituency), while noting that the Movement recruited 22 new names. On the civil society front, 7 Party declared its list which inlcudes 8 women out of 20 candidates, and they are: Victoria Khury Zwein (North Metn), Ghada Eid (Shuf), Amal Harfush (Akkar), Marie Claude Helo (Baabda), Paula Yacobian (Beirut 1st constituency), Rima Ali Hmayid (Bint Jbeil), Rania Bassil (Jbeil) and Fadwa Fayiz Nassif (Koora).
On their increasing participation in the elections, Al Hayat newspaper wrote that, women have made a significant gap in the fortified wall of the legislative candidacy process, pointing to the many female nominees on the civil society lists outside the patriarchal protection of political parties and the guardianship of clans and families that to date inherit power. This step, Al Hayat analyzed, is the culmination of efforts by women associations who decided to confront the traditional political, confessional, social and feudal authorities. Spotlighting some of the female names, L’Orient Le Jour mentioned Laury Haitayan from ‘Baladi Party’, a journalist and editor of political TV programs, who spelled out that she will focus on transparency in the oil and gas sector, . (L’Orient Le Jour, Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, Al Diyar, March 10 and 12, 2018)
 
 
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Under the slogan, ‘Different Causes, Shared Anger’, Lebanese feminist associations took to the street yesterday in a huge rally marking the International Women’s Day. The march started from Adlieh roundabout through Barbir to its final destination at Hawd al Wilaya in the neighborhood of Basta, where demonstrators hoisted signs calling for the adoption of laws that protect minors from early marriage, give mothers the right to grant nationality to their children, as well as their rights to equality and protection from violence and sexual harassment. Participants in the rally chanted slogans demanding immediate reforms of the current laws, including the patriarchal confessional representation quota. “We have the right to a civil personal status law,” they shouted. Towards the end of the demonstration, a statement was read noting that the gender-based violence rooted in the cultural and legal system prevents women from participating in public life and impedes the amendment of bigoted personal status legislations. The statement also pointed out that the same Lebanese ruling clique bans women from engaging in politics, while clinging to regulations and decrees that criminalize and stigmatize LGBT persons. The statement stressed the need to abolish all measures hampering the rights of decent work to migrant domestic workers, as well as, to Palestinian and Syrian women refugees, and calling for the accountability of those responsible for the deportation of some non-Lebanese people.  (An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, Al Akhbar, March 12, 2018)
 

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After the final count of female nominees in the Parliamentary elections closed at 111 women (https://goo.gl/2LauV1), a list, still incomplete, was made up in Akkar, the North, exclusively of female candidates. In this respect, Roula Mohamad Murad, the president-founder of 10452 Party announced on Tuesday the formation of an incomplete list of five women under the name, ‘Women of Akkar’ to run for the elections in the North 1st constituency- Akkar. On the other hand, An Nahar newspaper reported that the final touches are being made on four electoral lists in the North Matn district, some of which include women. In a related development, and on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, Human Rights Watch urged candidates to commit to five key steps to improve women’s rights, and they are: abolishing inequality under personal status laws and grant citizenship to children of Lebanese mothers; end child marriage; ban all forms of domestic violence, including marital rape; end human trafficking and protect the rights of migrant women domestic workers. Human Rights also stressed that political parties ensure greater engagement of women in parliament by recruiting women on their lists. Similarly, in a message to women candidates, the British Home Secretary Amber Rudd wished them good luck as “they boast the strength, grit and determination to succeed,” as she said. Likaa al Joumhouriya association lauded the largest number of women register for the upcoming elections, urging all factions to contribute to help women reach the Legislative in keeping with the principles of merit and the competence to forge the desired change. (Al Diyar, An Nahar, Lebananon 24, Al Diyar, L’Orient Le Jour, March 7, 9, 2018)
 
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The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) honored a number of women who served as chiefs of professional unions in the public sector, namely Amal Fayez Hadad, Rindala Jabour and Salwa Diab. On the other hand, and in collaboration with the office of the minister of state for women’s affairs and rural and urban women from across Lebanon, UN Women-Gender Equality and Empowerment, celebrated the International Women’s Day 2018 under the motto, ‘Time is Now: Rural and Urban Activists Transforming Women’s Lives’. During the ceremony, minister Jean Ogassapian stressed that gender equality can only be realized when women attain their economic independence and a full-blown partnership between men and women in all walks of life is established. Meanwhile, while MP Sitrida Geagea called on all women of Lebanon to follow in the same pattern in order to reach leadership, NCLW chair Claudine Aoun Rukuz called for ending all forms of discrimination against women. For his part, the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Rai’ congratulated women on their day, saying, women are to society like a soul is to the body”, urging electors, state and citizens, to generously vote for women candidates. Furthermore, the Committee for Women’s Affairs in the Lebanese Communist Party called for a seminar this evening entitled, ‘Practices of the patriarchal regime and forms of confronting it’. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, Al Akhbar, Al Diyar 9 March  2018)

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Yesterday, President Michel Aoun asked women to take the initiative and raise their voices, stressing the need to abolish gender disparities, legally and socially, and promote equity in practice on the basis of competence and merit. Aoun was speaking during a consultative meeting at the Baabda Palace ahead of the International Women’s Day. For her part, the minister of state for administrative development affairs, Inaya Ezzedine, hoped the next parliament will endorse a legislative infrastructure that plays fair for women of Lebanon and disallows any form of discrimination against them. Furthermore, the minister of state for women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian, stressed during a conference hosted by Mariam TV the need to streamline the culture of gender equality in all schools across the country. In a related vein, while the UN Women warned in a special statement for Lebanon that it is time to pave the way for gender equality, the EU maintained that the road to realize complete gender equality is still long. As part of the ongoing activities marking IWD, NDU held a conference on women, entitled, ‘She Powers’ outlining achievement and successes by women in the different sectors. Dr. Faisal al Qaq from AUB maintained in an article published in An Nahar newspaper that women’s health as a tool for change and progress is an effective strategy if it continues to work in Lebanon, noting that without promoting the health and rights of women there is no hope in changing societal and political components. Al Akhbar daily in turn highlighted the occasion through several investigative reports, stating that Women’s Day, which while meant to be a layover, should be celebrated each and every day. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, Al Akhbar, March 8, 2018)

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The number of women running for the parliamentary elections totaled 111 out of 976 nominees, (nearly 11.3%), which, according to L’Orient Le Jour, is not enough, yet it is a significant step forward. In previous elections of 2005 and 2009, the respective count of women, according to OLJ, was 12 of 702 candidates (1.7%) and 4 of 976 candidates (0.4%) respectively. An Nahar newspaper reported that the overall number of women nominees for 2018 is the highest in the history of Lebanese parliamentary elections, and this is due to the aggressive media campaigns and consistent efforts of the civil society organizations. Nevertheless, An Nahar concluded, the record high female nomination is paralleled by fear that this achievement will not be translated in the final electoral lists or in commitment to vote for women nominees against men candidates. On the other hand, L’Orient Le Jour drew attention to the difficulties faced by women wishing to run for elections and which was clearly noted in the closing ceremony on Friday of the ‘Women in Elections’ project run by Women in Front association, supported by UNDP and funded by UN Women and the EU. On this, Neemat Badriddine revealed that she wanted to run on the Nabatiyeh constituency, but the political parties in the area vetoed her presence on their lists and chose a male from her family instead, which forced her to nominate herself in Beirut. Similarly, Halima Qaaqur, who wanted to run in the Shuf-Aley constituency, was asked by her family to pull out as one of her male relatives is running on the same constituency. The member of the Free Patriotic Movement, Rindala Jabbur, from the West Beqaa-Rashayya area, also faced the same fate. (Al Akhbar, Al Mustaqba, An Nahar, L’Orient Le Jour, Al Diyar 7 March 2018)

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Activities commemorating the International Women’s Day continue across Lebanon. In this respect, the Holy Spirit of Kaslik, Faculty of Business and Commercial Sciences, organized yesterday the second edition of ‘The Executive Women’ conference in the presence of the minister of state for women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian. The event honored the president of the National Commission for Lebanese Women, NCLW, Claudine Aoun Rukuz, who called for drawing a distinction between women’s natural rights to pass citizenship to their children and permanent resettlement (tawteen), emphasizing the need to find the appropriate mechanism to achieve equity. Rukuz also stressed the importance of upgrading the educational curricula to include the principle of gender equality to be streamlined on all Lebanese territory. Also on IWD, the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said in a statement: “What we are witnessing today is an exceptional mobilizing force for all women around the globe,” pointing to the fundamental historic role of civil society in leading the global movement fighting for gender equality. She stressed the need for greater backing for women’s political activism and expanding the scope for civil society women to unite efforts in order to target the most in need of change, end the culture of poverty based on gender, exploitation and abuse through establishing a new generation of sustainable equality. Meanwhile, the Cultural and Academic Committee- Lebanese Olympic Committee holds today a seminar entitled, ‘Arab women in the Olympic Games and the impact of their participation on society’. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, March 7, 2018)
 

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