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Claudine Aoun calls for new legislations to achieve gender equality in Lebanon

30-10-2017

The president of the National Commission of Lebanese Women (NCLW), Claudine Aoun Rukoz, said that while women make one half of the society and the nation, they represent life itself. Rukoz who was participating at a talk organized by the Municipality of Hammana and Youth Movement Lebanon made clear that sustainable development, civil peace and social welfare require the largest possible engagement of women from all walks of life. The goal of NCLW, Rukoz maintained, is to improve Lebanese laws in order to achieve gender equality and integration of the social perceptions, the principles of equality and the public structures and polices. Rukoz pointed out that the minister of state for women’s affairs is working hard to submit draft bills proposed by the NCLW, which by virtue of the law is a continuous performing commission. She drew attention to the challenges facing the NCLW, including the poor coordination between public departments and non-governmental organizations which disrupts an efficient management of the files pertaining to women’s demands and rights. Breaking gender stereotypes inherited by society also constitute a serious challenge that requires regulation and adjustment, in addition to hiding behind religion to evade reform or change of the prejudicial personal status laws. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, October 28, 2017)

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Dina el-Mawla president of regional Francophone University Association

30-10-2017

The president of the Islamic University of Lebanon, Dr. Dina el-Mawla was elected as president for two years of the Francophone University Association (AUF) during the 10th general assembly of the Conference of Rectors in the Middle East Region (CONFREMO) held last week at the University of Arts, Science and Technology in Lebanon. El- Mawla thanked the trust bestowed upon her and voiced her determination to continue the achieved successes as well as develop projects that promote culture and higher education. El- Mawla also presented her work program which focuses on establishing a permanent forum between AUF members and strengthening cooperative procedures to monitor cultural and scientific undertakings, which “together we shall develop,” as she said. “Diversity is a source of wealth for universities to fulfill their mission in building the future of students, something everyone in the Middle East communities aspires to,” Dr. el- Mawla stated. She pointed out that her duty centers around the principles of fraternity, equality and diversity that are synonymous with the term Francophonie, as she put it. To recall, the confederation comprises 48 francophone universities and higher education institutions based in some 13 Middle Eastern countries. (Al Diyar, October 28, 2017)

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Women in Zimbabwe lead large manufacturing corporations

30-10-2017

The number of female headed companies in Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector has risen by 8 points, according to a survey by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), that showed that women now lead about 13 percent of companies in the manufacturing sector from about 5 percent in previous years. The survey also revealed that more than 45 percent of large companies which employ 100 or more workers are now led by female chief executives. On average, the manufacturing sector employs 22 percent females compared to 78 percent males, while in 2015, 34 percent of female employees were employed as full time but this has improved to 39 percent in 2017.The survey showed that women are most likely to employed in the textile industry and food stuffs sector. The survey also showed that female ownership of businesses in the manufacturing sector however still remains low with women having more stakes in medium sized firms compared to larger firms. In this context, United Nations Women (UNW) country representative, Delphine Serumaga said that “many social economic and legal hindrances for women, still exist preventing them from entering the workplace in growing their careers as well as their businesses. (Source.co.zw, October 26, 2017)

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S.A grants citizenship to a non-human!

27-10-2017

In an unprecedented move globally, Saudi Arabia bestowed last Wednesday the Saudi nationality to a non-human during the Future Investment Initiative summit held in Riyadh. The robot known as Sophia stood out during her address and argument with one of the present officials when she demonstrated a full-blown ability to express human emotions, such as happiness, sadness and anger as the core for building future trust among people. In a tweet on his official twitter account, the Saudi Royal Court advisor, Saud Qahtani, said Sophia is the first robot in the world to be granted the Saudi nationality and passport as a symbolic gesture to present the forthcoming megacity investment project, Neom. The latter is a USD 500 billion joint undertaking between Egypt, Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In turn, Sophia said “this is a historic moment for me to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with citizenship.” To recall, Robot Sophia was the first non-human to attend the United Nations session last month: ‘The future of everything- sustainable development in the age of rapid technological change’. (Al Diyar, October 27, 2017)

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Factors curbing Gazan women’s awareness of their rights

26-10-2017

Al Hayat newspaper published an article on the development of community awareness of women’s rights in the Gaza Strip as viewed by a number of experts. On the subject, the Palestinian researcher, Hassan Salameh, from the Palestinian Planning Center, said the maturity of community awareness of the rights of the Gazan women is not as anticipated compared with the efforts exerted to this effect. The reason for this, he explained, is that Gazan women still lack the courage to stand up for their rights, in addition to the prevailing male culture that largely determines their lives and fates. For her part, Hedaya Chamoun, specialist in women’s affairs, referred to what she called the “cultural apostasy”, and the baggage of religious intolerance associated with it and which tends to distract Gazans from their fight against poverty, unemployment, violence and against the fragmentation of the Palestinian identity. Chamoun, while stressing the hindering effect of such attitude in the struggle of women, and the adoption by mothers of the male prejudice in upbringing their own children, she expressed hope of a new generation of women who are fully aware of their rights. This was supported as well by the advisor for women’s rights, Hanin Sammak. On the same subject, researcher Talal Abu Rakbeh, from Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, considered that women are not the only ones to blame, and it is unfair to lay the burden of change on them alone for they are only part of the dilemma. Other causes are rooted in the environment, culture, education and upbringing. (Al Hayat, October 26, 2017)

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Marginalisation of women through economic empowerment programs

26-10-2017

The Washington Post yesterday published a feature spotlighting ‘women empowerment’ and criticizing the international humanitarian institutions for misapplication of the concept. The newspaper spoke to the Croatian researcher in human rights and mass atrocities, Kate Cronin-Furman, who said the notion has been reduced to the mere increase in income or so-termed economic empowerment of women. Aid agencies tend to achieve this through encouraging women to take sewing or makeup classes, while completely disregarding the core part of their mission, which is to free them from the limitations of a male-dominant mindset, subordination and from oppression through collective political mobilization and give them power to reach decision-making levels. Cronin-Furman gave example of the Tamil women of Sri Lanka who, because of their political principles, had been on the front lines fighting among the Liberation Tigers of Tamil during the civil war which ended in 2009. Those women were sent by one international aid organizations to learn cake-making as a source of livelihood and rehabilitation. Furman said these women not only did not benefit economically from the training workshops, but the latter made them worse off and they discontinued participating in political life. Such empowerment programs, Furman mentioned, are in fact impeding the empowerment or women because they contribute to cutting them off from the vital opportunities at hand. Furman went on to say that a large number of women rights organizations believe that empowering a woman is by giving her a chicken or a sewing machine, ignoring an important fact which is, that women suffer not just because they don’t have an independent source of income, but because they are part of a political system that hampers their advancement and access to power. Furman concluded by saying that in order to change this reality, women need a political push and support through altering the current legislations and policies. She said only few of the development non-profit organizations make political change a priority on their agenda. The Washington Post, October 25, 2017

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3 Lebanese winners of Arab Development Portal competition

25-10-2017

A 3-women team comprising Alexandra Irani, Joanna Z’inni and Zeina Jamaliddine came in the first place at Beirut Hackathon,Visualize 2030 competition organized by the UNDP and the Arab Development Portal (ADP). Some 14 teams from Arab states competed for projects to develop their countries within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 5-day event, the first SDG data dive camp in the Arab region, took place in Beit Meri, Lebanon, with the participation of 25 young women and 25 young men. The 3 young women from Lebanon won for their project ‘Super-milk’ underlining the advantages of breastfeeding and a cash prize of USD 7,000. The Iraqi team came second for ‘Education in Iraq’ project with USD 5 thousand prize, followed by the Algerian team that won USD 3 thousand for the ‘Industrial investment in Algeria’ project. To note, some 50 participants were shortlisted out of 240 applicants. On the occasion, the Lebanese health minister, Ghassan Hasbani, praised his country’s team for promoting breastfeeding, stating the ministry’s complete support and sponsorship of similar undertakings. (An Nahar, October 25, 2017)

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Canadian Ambassador to Lebanon focuses on supporting women

24-10-2017

L’Orient Le Jour interviewed the newly-appointed Ambassador of Canada to Lebanon, Emmanuelle Lamoureux, who said she is personally supportive of women’s issues, pointing out that the Embassy is at the heart of the Canadian law and policies. Lamoureux stressed her government’s conviction of the need to engage women at all levels in order to reach an acceptable level of economic growth and a lasting peace, adding that for women to access decision-making positions and to actively participate in society, they should be liberal and independent decision-makers themselves. To this effect, the ambassador met with representatives of concerned associations, namely, Dar al Amal, involved with helping marginalized women. She also expressed her interest in visiting Lebanese regions and in meeting with people so as to better understand the local context. L’Orient Le Jour, October 20, 2017

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Kafa campaign on banning marriage of the girl child

24-10-2017

On the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11 of each year, the Information Department at the NDU in Zouk Mosbeh north of Beirut organized a seminar on the occasion spotlighting a campaign by Kafa to ban marriage of minors. The lecturer at the University, Dr. Rita Sayah, lauded the efficacy of efforts by the organization and the encouraging results achieved so far. Every Lebanese girl and woman now has an anchor to resort to when needed, thanks to Kafa, Sayah maintained. Similarly, the public relations coordinator at Kafa, Maya Ammar, drew attention to the smart media and promotional campaign by the organization and its inspiring outcomes. Today, Kafa, enough violence and exploitation organization, is working on a serious legislation that bans the marriage of underage girls, Ammar stated. (Al Mustaqbal, October 24, 2017)

 

Previous related news:
‘A wedding or a funeral’, latest Kafa campaign against forced child marriage

 
 

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Gender mainstreaming and women’s role in decision making processes

23-10-2017

The Minister of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) and the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW), in partnership with the German Agency for International Development, launched on Friday the ‘Gender mainstreaming in educational decision making mechanisms and policies’. The experimental scheme seeks to develop the mainstreaming of women’s rights and gender equality in the MEHE policies which could reflect positively on the overall national educational policy. On the occasion, the minister of education, Marwan Hamadeh, underlined the aim of the project in “expanding the notions of gender and searching the roots of discrimination in our school and social education,” as he said. It seeks to establish behaviors that observe true equality in rights and responsibilities between the sexes to the effect of sustaining rights and equality in the administrative, educational and public life, in light of a true gender equality and a complete acceptance and adoption by the educated segment of society, Hamadeh explained. In a related vein, Nadwatul Ibdaa on Friday opened its cultural season for 2017/2018 with a talk entitled, ‘The impact of women on decision-making’ at Toufic Tabbara Center in Sanayeh, Beirut. Salwa Khalil, director of Nadwatul Ibaa, pointed out that the systematic marginalization of the role of women in political life is contrary to the established conception on the equality between men and women as a facet of human reality, and is contrary to the Lebanese Constitution stating that people are the ultimate source of authority, including men and women equally. She appealed to women to overcome all obstacles that obstruct their access to decision making positions and to boldly endorse their presence in the upcoming electoral lists. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, October 21, 2017)

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