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Women participation in US labor market dropping

31-1-2018

In its issue of today, Al Hayat newspaper spotlighted the US labor market which is reportedly facing a historic decline of 62.7% in the rate of participation of individuals aged between 18-54 years. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, men’s participation stood at 69.2% in 2016, against 56.8% for women during the same year. The Bureau anticipated the respective participation of men and women to drop to 66.2% and 56.1% with the year 2026, in relation to the aging process of the American society in general. Al Hayat also mentioned that the participation of American citizens in the labor market has peaked with the end of former president Bill Clinton’s term in 2000 reaching 67.3%. But with the seventies revolution, when women started to engage in the labor market, the rate has rapidly risen from 62.5% in 1976 to its highest with the close of the Millennium. The newspaper also presented a comparison between the participation in the US labor market and other advanced economies around the world, like Britain for example, which posted 78.5% and France 71.9%. One of the reasons for the upsurge in the rate, according to researchers, is a wider participation of women in the labor market as a result of supporting services and facilities provided by the governments of these two countries in terms of free family planning, childbirth and childcare programs which give women more freedom to work. In conclusion, Al Hayat pointed out that the low participation rate has prompted companies to conduct serious surveys aimed to increase the rate through raising the participation rate of women in the labor market. (Al Hayat, January 30, 2018)

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Draft bill on child marriage set age limit at 16 years

30-1-2018

The Parliamentary committees studying two draft bills on the marriage of minors and protection of children from early marriages decided after last Wednesday’s meeting to merge the three draft legislations to this effect, L’Orient Le Jour reported. To recall, the first draft was proposed by MP Ghassan Mkhaiber in 2014 on regulating child marriages but which not indicate the age of marriage; the second by MP Elie Kayrouz in 2017 on the protection of children from early marriage and which set the age of marriage at 18 years, and the last draft was submitted by minister of state for human rights, Ayman Choucair, who set the age of marriage at 16 years. According to Mkhaiber, the final draft will set the minimum age at 16 years, advising a civil judge to be responsible, and not the confessional institutions, for protecting minors aged between 16 and 18 years should they decide to marry. Commenting on the latest draft, NCLW president, Claudine Aoun Rukuz, said women’s organizations have refused to set the age of marriage at 16 years, and insist on raising it to 18 years. The newspaper on the other hand mentioned that religious sects might as well turn down the offer rejecting any interference in their powers in this regard. (L’Orient Le Jour, January 27, 2018)

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Firing of a senior female official on corruption grounds

30-1-2018

Al Akhbar newspaper today reported a decision by the Supreme Disciplinary Board to dismiss a female employee, the head of the Department for Classified Establishments in Mount Lebanon closely connected with the Governor. The employee whose name Al Akhbar did not reveal has been referred to the disciplinary more than 10 years ago, but has stayed in her position pending the final decision. The decision of dismissal was prompted by the continued acts of commissioning (samsara) run by her brother-in-law where both parties were profiting. In the details, Al Akhbar said the brother-in-law of the employee was constantly seen at the door of her office and became practically an employee facilitating illicit services through connecting the customers with the imprint of the head of the department and taking his share from each commission procedure. Suh services included: licensing gas stations, factories, farms, quarries etc… against the laws in effect. The said employee, according to Al Akhbar, is not the only dishonest member of staff in the public sector, revealing that in the majority of cases, employees are rarely referred to the disciplinary board unless they lack the political immunity. To close, the newspaper disclosed that MP Wiam Wahhab has volunteered to defend the employee threatening the Disciplinary Board headed by Marwan Abud. (Al Akhbar, January 30, 2018)

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Women university students innovate to promote gender equality

30-1-2018

In its issue of January 27, L’Orient Le Jour drew attention to the competition organized by Women in Front association’s ‘Young leaderShe’ project funded by the Embassy of Netherlands and implemented in cooperation with the ministry of women’s affairs. The project aims to develop the capacities of female students and strengthen their role inside the universities to be able to start their career life and reach self-realization at various levels. Participating in the program, were 100 female and male students from the following universities: USJ, NDU, LIU in Saida and Antonine University in Beqaa, who presented their unique ideas and campaigns aiming to promote gender equality. L’Orient Le Jour published the outstanding projects in each university. First, the project by Dalia Quwatli and Lia Bekdash from USJ which focused on the historical role of men in feminist movements. According to their research, the first person to address the issue of women’s rights was Francois Poulain de la Barre, and the first to use the term ‘feminist’ was Charles Fournier. In USJ also, the newspaper pointed to the winner, Charbel Musallam, who chose ‘changing the image of women in the Lebanese media’ as his subject. He proposed setting up a social media platform devoted to children and youth, that stages programs promoting gender equality. L’Orient Le Jour also highlighted the following projects from the different universities: a study on human trafficking by Gaelle Tawk (NDU); a project executed by three female students, Lia Saghbini, Bushra Assaf and Alisar Al Shabb on the role of women in the Lebanese society (Antonine University), and a team campaign by Sara Hassun, Hiam Fakih and Afaf Assaf who screened a documentary about a woman militant who started from scratch and struggled to support her children as a lesson to be learned by the students (LIU Saida). For the article in L’Orient Le Jour, follow the link http://bit.ly/2DEQPh7 (L’Orient Le Jour, January 27, 2018)

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RMF vocationally trains 650 young men and women

29-1-2018

More than 650 young men and women completed accelerated technical and vocational courses sponsored by Rene Mouwad Foundation (RMF) within the ‘Youth support through education, capacity building and employment in the North’ project funded by UNICEF. In the graduation ceremony held in Kfarzina-Zgharta, RMF executive director, Michel Mouawad, stressed the importance of the project which extends opportunities to the youth assuring them that they can dream big and realize their aspirations through hard work and knowledge. Mouawad thanked the UN agency for allocating more than USD one million for the program. Mouawad drew attention to the extent of dereliction on part of the State, especially with relation to the huge numbers of school dropouts as a result of the stressful social and economic conditions and the crisis of Syrian displacement. “We must all work hard to help as much we can in order to curtail this phenomenon,” Mouawad maintained. At the end of the ceremony, the beneficiaries received their certificates along with a set of tools to facilitate their access to the labor market. To note, some 2277 young men and women aged between 14 and 24 years within Minyeh, Diniyeh, Zgharta and Tripoli benefited from the project. (Al Mustaqbal, January 29, 2018)

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Hamas in Gaza bars women from attending football matches

29-1-2018

Hamas-controlled police barred dozens of women yesterday from attending a football match in the Gaza Strip despite a decision to allow them into the stadium where they will be seated separately from men. A reminder that the Nusairat football club had devised a special runway for women to watch yesterday’s Nusairat-Al Jalaa match. But the authorities in Gaza blocked women from entering the stadium at the Nusairat refugee camp south of Gaza City forcing them to watch the game from outside the fence. Commenting on this, Ayat Uthman, told AFP: “We came to watch the game and encourage the team and youths in Nusairat, but were surprised by Hamas security guards who closed the gates in our faces and did not let us in to cheer.” Similarly, woman activist, Amal Chehadeh, who coordinates a project to improve sports clubs, voiced her regret over the authorities’ ban. To note, the said match would have marked a rare occasion where women would be allowed into the stadiums since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, and this comes as part of an initiative to upgrade sports clubs in the impoverished and besieged Strip. (Al Mustaqbal, January 29, 2018)

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Journalist Paula Yacubian receives Belgian Order of the Crown

29-1-2018

In a ceremony held at his Yarze residence on Friday, the Belgian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alex Lenaerts, handed journalist Paula Yacubian the Order of the Crown from King Philippe Leopold Louis Marie of Belgium. Yacubian, to recall, is the first journalist to receive this order, which comes in recognition of her media, humanitarian and environmental action, as well as, for her distinctive role in women empowerment. On the occasion, Lenaerts said he was privileged to honor the first journalist around the world, praising her constant endeavor in the humanitarian field. She is an example of the free, smart, ambitious and charismatic media figure and a famous television anchor, he noted. Besides, Yacubian is the daughter of the Armenian activist and militant and political science graduate, the ambassador said, adding, she started her media career early to become a distinguished lady who advocates and supports women. For her part, Yacubian offered the Order to all women militants, particularly journalists and reporters. (An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, January 27, 2018)

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First women nominee in Zahleh

26-1-2018

In the first public nomination, through conventional circles, Maha Maalouf Kassuf announced in a press conference yesterday her candidacy for the Orthodox seat in Zahleh constituency in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Counting on her social and civil society contributions, as well as, her membership for two consecutive terms in the Zahleh- Moalaqa municipal board, Kassuf expressed her keenness to run as part of the Lebanese Forces (LF) electoral list with which she is aligned. “Civil society has been my line of work for decades, but certainly, candidacy means a lot to me as it is linked to my innate nature and at the same time to the political party with which I proudly affiliate myself, which is the LF party,” Kassuf stated, noting, there is no negotiations in the sense of negotiations with the LF party yet. (An Nahar, January 26, 2018)

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MEPI concludes entrepreneurship empowerment program

26-1-2018

Lebanon Alumni Association- the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI LAA) concluded on Wednesday the ‘Empowering Lebanese Entrepreneurs’ (ELE) project in the presence of US Deputy Head of Mission, Edward White, and concerned parties. On the occasion, White stressed the importance of launching similar projects in Lebanon to alleviate the unemployment crisis which has exacerbated recently. He highlighted the vitality of building an environment that empowers innovators in order to promote economic growth in rural areas and create jobs. The entrepreneurship workshop has contributed to the capacity-building and skills development of 51 local beneficiaries on the subject of entrepreneurship, while preparing them to kick off and implement their own enterprises. The project which was implemented in partnership between four Lebanese universities and nine associations also helped to network entrepreneurs with successful bankers, established entrepreneurs and private sector institutions. (Al Mustaqbal, January 26, 2018)

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10% tax for recruiting “foreign artist” to work in Lebanon

26-1-2018

The General Directorate of General Security announced in a statement yesterday that it will be enforcing a 10% tax on entry visa to be settled by artistic firms or commercial institutions recruiting foreign artists. This includes all artistic categories (excluding models, masseurs and night club workers). The concerned applicants should attach to the required documents, a receipt of the fee paid to the unified artists fund and a copy of the contract approved by the finance ministry. (Al Diyar, January 26, 2018)

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