May Chidiac Foundation organizes ‘Women on the Front Lines’ conference

The May Chidiak Foundation (MCF) held yesterday its fourth annual ‘Women on the Front Lines’ conference to shed light on women with outstanding ventures in the fields of business, media and the film industry. The conference included one-day interactive workshops during which participants tackled numerous topics, notably, women’s rights, as well as the major male driven political and legal obstacles that hinder women’s effective engagement in public life and in attaining leading positions. Discussions also focused on the participation of women as voters and candidates in the upcoming municipal elections, in the first phase, which will qualify them later on to run for Parliamentary elections. There they can take part in the drafting and enacting of legislations that improve their social and living conditions by eradicating the discrimination practiced against them at work and in the Personal Status laws. On this occasion, the conference host May Chidiak, pointed out that the domestic violence related draft law is still in the Parliament lying in wait for the signature of 128 MPs and the blessings of the 18 religious sects of Lebanon,” as she put it. “The Lebanese woman is still a captive of the patriarchal male chauvinist mentality that always places her as second to the brother, male relative or spouse. Whereas, we all know that if there was justice, women would excel and surpass their male partners,” Chidiak added. She stressed the need to incorporate women’s quota in the electoral law, which covers not only the voters lists but also the results of elections. For his part, the former Minister of Interior, Ziad Barud noted that the participation of women in public life is still very weak compared to the global, or even more, to Arab ratios. “Strengthening the role of women starts with the adoption of women’s quota and the relative majority elections system, up to the implementation of the civil marriage system” to replace the outdated confessional system. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, As Safir, March 2, 2016)