Pioneer women right defender Anissa Najjar dies at age of 103‎

The Lebanese pioneer women’s rights defender, Anissa Rawda Najjar passed away on ‎Wednesday at 103 years of age. Najjar received the “Commandor” medal of honor at her 100th ‎anniversary by then President of the Republic Michel Suleiman and was also honored by the ‎Ministry of Communications which issued a stamp carrying her name and picture. Early in her ‎life, Najjar fought in defense of human rights and women’s rights, in particular, crowning her ‎struggle with the formation in 1953 of the first of its kind rural development community in the ‎Arab world, ‘Village Welfare Society’, to promote and support rural women through enabling ‎them to become economically productive. She also established a number of clinics and schools ‎and sought to set up a rural institute that educates women (Madrasat Al Maraa Al Masoula). ‎Najjar has been one of the earliest Arab women journalists where she published and wrote in ‘Al ‎Ahliyah’ newsletter back in 1931 when she was still a student. In 1963 she was appointed editor ‎in chief of ‘Al 3urwa Al Wuthqa’ magazine before she became secretary of the Druze Orphanage ‎and the Lebanese‏ ‏Council for Women respectively. She contributed to the founding of the ‎Lebanese League for Good Housekeeping and partook in numerous conferences in Lebanon, the ‎Arab region and the world, and was honored at over 20 social, educational and cultural occasions ‎‎.( An Nahar, As Safir, January 15, 2016)‎