The PSP women and media commission held a consultative meeting on October 9 at its Beirut premises to discuss the ‘objectification of women in the media’ in the presence of a number of the Party’s women coordinators, media persons and activists from both sexes. On this, the women affairs commissioner, Manal Saeed, explained that this move comes after a series of infringements of dignity of women MPs on the media, sometimes by portraying them in a narrow context as a sex and beauty object, and at other times through lewd remarks that violate their dignity, which generally distorts the image of Lebanese women. The purpose of the meeting, Saeed went on to say, is to coordinate with other parties that believe in gender equality in order to reach a shared vision on how to address this reality by enacting laws that protect women against verbal and moral violence on the media. For his part, the PSP media commissioner, Rami Rayyis, pointed out that the meeting seeks to shed light on society and media’s view of women and their political, social and humanitarian role. “It is true that Lebanon is considered relatively advanced in gender equality issues compared to its neighbors, yet it still needs to do a lot more to turn this into physical reality, on the political, legislative, media and ethical levels,” Rayyis concluded. (Al Mustaqbal, October 11, 2018)
