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After slightly rising to 3.5% in Mount Lebanon, the rate of representation of women in municipal election in the districts of the South and Nabatiyeh has decreased to 2% falling, scoring a tie with Beirut, with a rise compared to Beqaa results which scored 1%. A preliminary analysis of the electoral results (on May 22)  in the two Southern districts has shown a high rate (10%)  of women candidates in Jezzine, and a 49% rate of victory out of the total number of women nominees and 5% of the overall candidates. In Nabatiyeh, however, the scene was different, recording the lowest participation rate 3.5%, and a 27% of winning votes out of the total number of female candidates and only 1% of the overall candidates. On a similar note, the boldness of the women of Hasbaya should be lauded, with recalling the victory of 6 out of 12 women nominees who challenged the religious veto on their participation. According to the data published on the electoral portal of the Ministry of Interior (elections.gov.lb/), the overall number of candidates in the South was 5597 candidates, including 308 women, out of whom 123 won at a rate of 2%. The distribution came as follows: Jezzine: 719 candidates, including 73 women, 36 women won at a rate of 5%; Saida: 1056 candidates, including 59 women, 25 women won at a rate of 2.3%; Tyre: 1223 candidates, including 65 women, 25 women won at a rate of 2%; Bint Jbeil: 660 candidates, including 33 women, 12 women won at a rate of 1.8%; Marjeyoun: 534 candidates, including 25 women, 9 women won at 1.6%; .Hasbaya: 411 candidates, including 16 women, 6 women won at a rate of 1.4%; Nabatiyeh: 994 candidates, including 37 women, 10 women won at a rate of 1%.

 

The President of the American University of Beirut AUB, Dr. Fadlo Khury, announced in a statement issued yesterday the appointment of Dr. Nadia Sheikh as the first woman for the position of dean of the 150-year-old School of Arts and Sciences to succeed Dr. Patrick McGriffi.  The statement described Dr. Cheikh as prestigious in the world of History and Near Eastern Studies and a well-known researcher in the Abbasid and Byzantine eras and a staunch supporter of gender equality issues. Sheikh is presently the Assistant for the Academic Affairs Acting Deputy Director at the AUB. Sheikh received her BA in History and Archeology in 1985 from AUB before pursuing her studies at Harvard University in the United States and returning in 1992 to the AUB with a doctorate in History and Near Eastern Studies. She also served as Director of the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies and head of the Department of History and Archaeology in 2013. She became full professor in 2006.

Al Mustaqbal, June 2, 2016

 

In collaboration with the Tripoli Bar Association, the Lebanese University School of Law and Political Sciences- organized in Tripoli a mock trial of an honor killing played by a number of students. The trial was held at the premises of the Bar Association, the Justice Palace, in the northern capital, in the presence of a large group of lawyers and law students. On the occasion, the school dean, Kamil Habib, outlined the adultery-related legal articles and their amendments, pointing out that the issue of honor is not legislative, rather it is the work of mind and heart of its holder. The society, Habib maintained, is trapped in the vicious circle of ill patterns, and awaits a cultural revolution that wipes out destructive traditions. Women, he said, are not the guardians of honor, and therefore, we should instead work on realizing equality with men. Honor, Habib concluded, requires the emancipation of Arab citizens through rebuilding a civil state based on the principles of equality, justice and the observance of the law. (Al Mustaqbal, June 1, 2016)

 

In collaboration with the Collective for Research and Training for Development-Action (CRTD.A), the Hoop and Wire (Tara wa Kheit) workshop affiliated with the Safadi Foundation Women’s Academy, launched on Monday the first line of maternity clothing entitled ‘Beauty and the Bump in Bloom’. During the ceremony held at the Zaituna Bay as part of the Beirut Design Week, Lara Safadi Habbal, said the activity was just the beginning. Many more productive and sustainable projects will see the light soon under the supportive umbrella of the Foundation’s Social Development Department. She emphasized that the revenues from the event will continue to fund the training of women to become financially independent and self-reliant. Safadi also mentioned the accomplishments by the Tara wa Kheit group last year, also carried out in collaboration with CRTD.A (crtda.org.lb). These achievements mainly focus on economic ventures that support the empowerment of women, particularly those living in the old neighborhoods of the northern capital. Safadi concluded by saying that the celebration today summons a big stride to success, and it comes after persistent training and hard work from which these women learned a lot. (L’Orient Le Jour, June 1, 2016)

The Lebanese-French architect, Lina Ghatmeh, received the Grand Prix Afex 2016 award for her reconstruction of the National Museum of Estonia during a ceremony held last Friday in Venice, Italy. It should be noted, that this is the second award for Ghatmeh after her previous winning project, ‘The Rehabilitation of Massena Station’, a project which was part of a bigger scheme to reshape the French capital, Paris, and which proposed to turn the rail station into a habitat for agricultural and organic food production. (L’Orient Le Jour, May 31, 2016)

 

The first Arab women conference was held yesterday at the House of the Lawyer in Beirut under the banner ‘legislations and laws related to women affairs: comparisons and paradoxes’. The event was jointly organized in collaboration with the Beirut Bar Association )BBA,( which was chaired by its president lawyer, Antonio Hashem, and the women committee at the Arab Lawyers Union ALU and in the presence of a large group of public figures. On the occasion, Hashem stressed that women in the region still suffer from the big gap between their actual potentials and the rights bestowed to them by prevalent legal and social systems. “Accomplishments by Arab women so far do not reflect their important actual role, and they are threatened by the growing religious extremism in the region,” said Hashem. He also noted the insufficient role played by women’s committees within trade unions, while calling for the creation organisations of Arab women lawyers under the umbrella of the ALU. For his part, ALU secretary general, Abdel Latif Bu Ashreen, considered that the era of domination by patriarchal mindsets has come to an end, and lauded the remarkable progress in the role of women in the past decade as a result of mounting democracy and human rights movements in which women advocacy groups have actively taken part. However, Bu Ashreen added, that the present general political scene in the region indicates that growing interest in women affairs was largely motivated by the need for external marketing, while concluding that Arab political parties and leaderships still do not respect or trust the performance of women. For her part, the head of the women committee, Asma Hemadeh Dagher hoped that participants will agree a unified platform in order to start pressuring regional parliaments and governments towards reforming discriminatory legislations against women. (Al Mustaqbal, May 31, 2016)

 

With the support of the UNDP and UNIFIL, Women in Front Association ended last Saturday its project, ‘Activating the Role of Southern Women in Public Affairs’ aimed at training active women in South Lebanon and the empowerment of their skills to take part in public and municipal life. Some 23 women from the districts of Bint Jbeil and Tyre attended a ceremony held at the Cultural Movement Center in Tyre, which also saw the presence of the head of the Federation of Tyre Municipalities, Abdel Mohsen Husseini, as well as Baker Adam and Raghad Assi representing the UNIFIL and UNDP respectively. The beneficiaries completed a 5-day training workshop covering many topics, notably: municipal work and municipal budget; how to assess the needs of the community and the progress of projects; how to appear in the media and the art of public speech; how to assess and develop the personal image and how to write and submit a proposal to donors. Each participant presented a project which contributed to the advancement of her neighborhood, and were handed certificates to this effect. (Al Mustaqbal, May 29, 2016)

 

In preparation for the municipal and mayoral elections in Akkar, the North, on May 29, the Akkar Network for Development (AND) organized last Friday a public workshop at the Municipality of Halba to train candidates and their teams on the voting and vote counting procedures. Some 60 participants coming from various Akkar villages, including tens of women nominees and their electoral team workers were present. On the occasion, AND president, Nadine Saba, outlined the different stages of the complete electoral process with the accompanying instructions and tips related to the specific tasks of electoral delegates in the protection of the rights of both voters and candidates. This activity comes as part of a program implemented by the AND in partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) aimed at promoting the participation of women in political life and supporting them to reach decision making positions. According to official sources, the total number of candidates in Akkar reached 3684 persons, of who 212 were women the latter category distributed as follows: 190 candidates for municipal councils, 11 candidates for mayoral positions and 11 women candidates for mayoral councils.  (Al Diyar, May 28, 2016)