Al Hasnaa newspaper organised a round table last week emtitled: “Pioneer politics in Lebanon: What role for women?”. The event was organised at the Faculty of Law, Political and Administrative Sciences at the USJ, in collaboration with the 7th day initiative of USJ, Institut Français du Liban and Women in Front, following an initiative by the author Rita Bassil.
The round table was moderated by Fadia Kiwan, the director of the Political Sciences Institute at USJ, with the participation of Nada Anid, a founding member of women in front, Al-Akhbar editor in chief Pierre Abi Saab, Mariam Al-Shami, a member of Amal movement’s advisory council, the independent candidate and member of Aley’s municipality Saada Wahhab Halima, MP Sami Gemayel advisory Lara Saade, representing the Phalange party and the candidate Nathalie Fadlallah.
Kiwan started her intervention with a brief chronology of women’s right to political participation, a right which was consecrated sixty years but remains largely not in practice whilst discussing the causes and the context that lies behind women’s low political participation. The participants then shared their experiences, pointing out to the various driving factors for their involvement in politics, the challenges they faced and the difficulties in reaching leadership position in a patriarchal society.
Source: http://www.almustaqbal.com/storiesv4.aspx?storyid=570710">Al-Mustaqbal 13 May 2013