7 divorces cases in East Saida, because women disobeyed their husbands during the elections

While women advocate groups compete in holding conferences and talks to promote women participation in public affairs, the reality remains largely unchanged, dominated as always, by a male chauvinist mindset that refuses the right of women to freedom of expression. To this effect, An Nahar daily revealed in its issue of June 2, that the recent municipal and mayoral elections in the Tabaya, Saida, has prompted 7 cases of divorce in the southern town because the involved wives challenged the political views of their husbands in the electoral process. Speaking to An Nahar newspaper, one elections list supervisor confirmed the news, saying there have been informal cases, two of whom have been addressed, and three other remain unresolved.

In the same vein, the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) concluded yesterday a seminar entitled, ‘The role of the media in human development and the realization of gender equality, working methodologies for the development of the language and change of stereotypes.’ The 2-day meeting comes as part of the EU-funded ‘Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women in Lebanon’ initiative. The covered topics included: the role of the media in altering stereotypes about women during media interviews; participation of women in public matters, decision making and political life, as well as methods of development of the media language to observe gender sensitivity. Participants finally pressed for the need to enhance the role of women across all realms and support them in the media by exposing the various development, social and political activities they undertake. (An Nahar, June 2 and 9, 2016)