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Women entrepreneurship: Ghada Haidar challenges lack of capital

1-10-2019

In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper spotlighted the career path of Ghada Haidar, who decided to shift from the knotty trade of household linens to the more popular sales of women’s clothing and apparel when she found that the probabilities of success or failure in both are nearly the same. Ghada, like many Lebanese, faced setbacks and was impeded by the lack of capital needed to start any trade, Al Akhbar wrote. But unlike others, she did not resort to personal loans, but instead relied on the strong and trustworthy relations she built with local merchants throughout her career. She managed to get products from dealers on consignment and reimburse later. Al Akhbar highlighted Ghada’s unceasing drive for accomplishment. The young ambitious woman refused to give up hope. But despite that the linen business was not to her expectations, she did not fight desperately to beat challenges and get successful in this field. She was well aware that exhausting herself physically and financially is pointless, hence she braced herself for ending the business and trying something new. For more information, kindly visit https://bit.ly/2njuanB. (Al Akhbar, October 1, 2019)

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Jumana Haddad freedom center raises awareness of youth

30-9-2019

Writer and political activist, Jumana Haddad, set up the Jumana Haddad Centre for Freedoms, itself a part of the Jumana Haddad Freedoms Monitor. The latter is a secular and independent organization created recently with the aim of educating and raising the awareness of youth as well as mobilizing youth to adopt the values of secularism, equality, accepting differences, as well as individual freedoms. In a statement issued today, the organization highlights that Lebanon is a parliamentary democracy as well as a founding member of the United Nations and is a signatory to various conventions including the International Human Rights Charter. However, and according to the same statement, the powers in Lebanon are practicing various forms of discrimination as well as violations of human rights notably the rights of women and minorities such as LGBTQI. The statement further adds that narrow religious and political interests contribute to undermining civil and public rights including the current constraints on the fundamental right to free expression especially when this is in contradiction with political and religious interests and when they address corruption. (An Nahar, September 27th, 2019)

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Lebanese ISIS women awaiting government to bring them back

30-9-2019

After exposing the human rights violations against Yazidi women abductees at Al Hol refugee camp in Syria (https://bit.ly/2nMaKaP), Al Diyar today reported that the total number of Lebanese women, wives of ISIS fighters imprisoned at the camp, is around 50 women. Each one of them is a mother of 3 to 5 children of different nationalities as they are married to more than one man when their husbands die in battle. The Lebanese Daesh women are mainly from Tripoli and the environs, with a few from Donniyeh and Akkar, Al Diyar wrote. Citing informed sources, the newspaper said 10 women returned recently with their children through human traffickers, pointing out that the cost of trafficking ranged between USD 3,000 and USD 5,000 for each woman. The newspaper noted that the families of the Lebanese women abducted at Al Houl Camp have appealed to the Lebanese government to facilitate the return of their girls from the camp. And according to the same sources, the final word at the said camp is reportedly for the US Forces governing the facility, hence Lebanon is called on to make the necessary contacts to secure their safe return. (Al Diyar, September 30, 2019)

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Shedid and Beaino award winners of Femme Francophone Entrepreneur 2019

27-9-2019

Rosabelle Shedid and Rayan Beaino won yesterday, the Femme Francophone Entrepreneur Award 2019 organised by the Agence Universitaire pour la Francophonie (AUF), Berytech, L’Orient Le Jour and Le Commerce du Levant magazine, which was sponsored this year by the minister of state for the economic empowerment of women and youth, Violette Khairallah Safadi . Each winner received 10,000 euros, noting that contestants were 60 women in total, five of whom were short listed for the finals. To recall, Beaino is the founder of ‘Mushtic” a company that produces a biodegradable substitute for polystyrene, while Shedid is the founder of “C Green” a company that treats the sewage sludge, one of the most dangerous waste for the environment in Lebanon. During the final ceremony , AUF regional director, Herve Saburan, highlighted the quality of the projects presented and the ability of women to meet the needs of the local ecosystem, while the representative of USJ president, Dolla Sarkis, noted that “the image of women is still weak in Lebanon in many fields, especially in the world of business”. For her part, Minister Safadi stressed that the participation of women in the business world is a pivotal step towards equality of rights between men and women and speed up economic development. (L’Orient Le Jour, September 27, 2019)

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LGBT 2019 night, former Mufti objects

26-9-2019

The LGBT rights advocate Beirut Pride organizer announced the opening night for 2019, this Saturday, September 28 at Aresco Centre, Sanayeh, Beirut, noting that the events will run from September 28 until October 6. Upon the announcement, the former Mufti of the Republic, Mohamad Rashid Qabbani, declared war on same sex marriage, homosexuality and what he calls “debauchery”, as he alleged. In a statement he released to this end, Qabbani asked, who is responsible for the protection of the security of public morality in the country so as to act responsibly and hunt violators and bring them to justice, as he says.  He advised Lebanese officials to be realistic and respond quickly to the demands of the Lebanese and immediately stop the projected concert which sustains the rights of LGBTs and defends the legalization of same-sex marriage. Recalling, this is not the first time Qabbani objects to pro-LGBT activities, as he advised last year the banning of what he alleged to be a gay party at the AUB. The Beirut Pride 2018 coordinator was arrested and the event cancelled. (An Nahar, September 26, 2019)
 

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Campaigning for zero tolerance towards violence against women

26-9-2019

The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering jointly with Najdeh Association launched on September 23 a media campaign to promote ‘zero tolerance for violence against women and girls’. This comes as part of a regional campaign (VAWG) involving 7 Arab countries in the Southern Mediterranean region, namely Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The campaign, which is kicked off under the umbrella of the feminist initiative Euromed and with funding from the EU, seeks to bring violence out of the private sphere by encouraging women and girls to speak out and share experiences of violence through using the hashtag ‘shu qistik’. It basically targets men and women with the aim to shift the blame from the victim to the perpetrator. The campaign gives women a safe platform to have access to information on existing services tailored for victims of violence. It also highlights the challenges in Lebanon including the abolishing of discriminatory personal status laws and the penal code, and advises for the adoption of a civil law, amendment of the bill on domestic violence and the endorsement of a law on harassment in the workplace. (NNA, September 25, 2019)
 

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1600 female graduates of USPEAK

25-9-2019

USPEAK and the US Embassy in Lebanon held a ceremony yesterday for the graduation of female students who participated in the ‘Teach Women English’ program as well as the 11th anniversary of the said program. The event which took place at the Palace of Conventions, Dbayeh, saw the presence of the US Embassy cultural affairs officer, Raisa Dukas, and the director of the program, Rawan Yaghi. Dukas in her address said learning the English language helps in the empowerment of women all over Lebanon and in breaking barriers to their integration and participation in all areas of social, cultural and political life. Similarly, Yaghi, said last year graduates celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of Independence in Rashaya Fort and contributed to increasing the number of applicants to reach 1600 female students. “We started with 1000 applications. Around 40 women have become productive within entrepreneurship and other businesses,” she said. The program has helped women master the language, teach their children and interact with them and with the community and with their relatives abroad in English, Yaghi maintained. (NNA, September 24, 2019)

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Economic empowerment of women in Kfarman, Ain Wzein and El Mina

25-9-2019

The Partnership Center for Development and Democracy announced in a statement yesterday the launch of ‘Enhancing the presence of women and the role of municipal members through economic empowerment’ project in Kfarreman, El Mina and Ain Wzein areas. The project, to note, comes within the framework of a partnership agreement between the ministry of state for the economic empowerment of women and youth and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. This initiative aims to support the economic empowerment of women locally through engaging municipal council that have women on board, and in partnership with women-owned businesses operating within the municipality. The project also seeks to promote the presence of women and the role of municipal members by developing small enterprises run by women in their towns and creating a proper framework of coordination with the municipal council and small businesswomen. This is facilitated by identifying needs priorities, as well as starting joint initiatives to promote and to market their products. (NNA, September 24, 2019)

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Hundreds of Moroccan women rebel against outdated laws

24-9-2019

Hundreds of Moroccan women declared in a manifesto published in the front page of the French daily Le Monde they were outlaws. They stated that they have broken the country’s unjust and outdated laws related to abortion and social norms. The women said: “We are violating obsolete and unfair laws. We are having sex outside marriage. We have been forced to terminate a pregnancy, we enabled or were complicit in abortion.” The text which was released in a form of petition open to men read: “The culture of lying and social hypocrisy leads to violence, arbitrariness and intolerance. Such freedom destructive laws that are impractical have become tools for political vengeance or personal revenge.” The statement co-edited by French-Moroccan author, Leila Sleimani, carried 490 signatures symbolic of Article 490 of the Moroccan Penal Code which punishes sexual relations out of wedlock. To note, the launch of the manifesto coincided with the third hearing in the trial of journalist Hajar Rainoussi who was arrested at the end of August over alleged illegal abortion and extramarital affair. (An Nahar, September 24, 2019)

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Women's quota proposal, draft law for incriminating sexual harassment

24-9-2019

The Future Movement MP Dima Jamali submitted to the legislature yesterday a draft bill on the women’s representation quota. Jamali pointed out during a press conference held to this end, that the referral of said proposal summons the beginning of the end of a period laden with marginalization, silence and discrimination against the role of women in politics, development and in society. The lawmaker urged parliament members to approve the law for the public interest, reiterating the need to increase women’s representation and abolish all forms of prejudice against them. The purpose of the quota, Jamali explained, is not only to bring women to the House or elected councils, but also to raise and deliberate women’s issues and concerns, engage them in the process of development, and correct erroneous political drifts to this effect. On the other hand, the Parliamentary Woman and Child Committee led by MP Enaya Ezzidine met on September 18 to finalize discussion of the draft law, presented by Ezzedine, which criminalizes sexual harassment. It was agreed to postpone the discussion till next week for further study. (Al Diyar, NNA, September 19, 23, 2019)

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