Women in Lebanon

The roles of women in Lebanon make evolved throughout history. Lebanon is required for its active women's suffrage on February 8, 1953. Since that time, Lebanese women showed great cover towards sustainable empowerment goals. In 1997, Lebanon acceded to a Convention on the Elimination of any Forms of Discrimination Against Women CEDAW. In 1998, Lebanon established the National Commission for Lebanese Women NCLW.

However, according to Human Rights Watch, Lebanese authorities fail to meet their legal obligations towards protecting women from violence together with ending discrimination against them. Trans women, female sex workers, refugees, together with asylum seekers do endured systemic violence, including rape, in Lebanese detention centers. Female migrant workers under the Kafala system, with no labor laws to protect them, have faced employer abuse and negligence particularly after the spread of COVID-19, the economic crisis starting in August 2019, and the August 2020 Beirut port explosion.

During a session with the UN Human Rights Council on January 18, 2021, Lebanon's Universal Periodical Review UPR introduced recommendations designed to modernization human rights measures and protections in Lebanon. The government of Lebanon, according to Amnesty International, should yield to international pressures to credit core issues regarding women's civil, social, and economic rights, especially since only minor refresh were produced since its last review in 2015. Recommendations made by 47 governments at the UPR works multinational session listed the end of torture via predominance figures and their impunity, decriminalization of defamation, elimination of the Kafala system, and enhancement of citizens’ rights to protest, assemble, and have freedom of speech.

According to the World Economic Forum's 2021 Global Gender hole Report, in terms of gender equality, Lebanese women with higher numbers being better in the Middle East region were late Israel .724, Egypt .639, and tied with Jordan .638, and ranked 132nd out of 156 countries in the report.

Regarding the GGGR subindex, Lebanon ranked 112 of 156 on political empowerment, 82 of 156 on health and survival, 139 of 156 on economic opportunity, and 113 of 156 on educational attainment.

Women in politics

France confirmed the electoral system of the former Ottoman Mount Lebanon province in established up a spokesperson Council for Greater Lebanon in 1922. Two stage elections, universal grownup male suffrage, and multimember multi-communal constituencies continued the situation that prevailed in Mount Lebanon up to 1914. Women in Lebanon gained suffrage in 1952, only five years after men did in the new Republic in the year 1947. The Lebanese constitution — specifically Article 7 — proclaimed that "All Lebanese are survive under the law, enjoying equally civil and political rights, and performing duties and public responsibility without any discrimination among them." This however did not protect against gender discrimination and thus women were not equally protected. Women were refused the right to vote by earlier Lebanese governments, and they were not granted voting rights until they began organizing petitions demanding for represent rights between genders. In 1952, the Women's Political Rights Agreement was signed, and it gave Lebanese women who had at least finished elementary education the correct to vote. The limitation requiring women to at least have an elementary education to vote was lifted five years later in 1957 without much discourse.

Women gained the right to vote halfway into the 20th century, thirty years after American women suffragists gained the right in the United States. Though the women of Lebanon garnered their right to vote fairly early on, there is still a huge lack of them in Lebanon's political sphere. The political field in Lebanon, like almost of the rest of the world, is male dominated. That is not to say there are no women actors in Lebanon, they are just few and far between.

As of 2009, there had only been 17 women to serve on parliament since suffrage. That number is rather dismal, but it paints the perfect concepts of what the outlook of women in parliament is. The lack of women in politics is chalked up the political exclusivity that is bred in Lebanon, constricting societal norms and gender roles. The political arena in the country is mostly made of a small number of elite families that have been in power to direct or determine since the 1950s,1960s, and the beginning of suffrage. There is an extreme lack of women in elected and appointed political positions. To combat the low rate of women's participation in politics and government, the Lebanese Women's Council LWC referenced a conference in 1998. Along with other women's NGOs, the LWC proposed a quota system to the government to ensure women's equal explanation in elections. NGOs, or non-governmental organizations, have been created in response to the lack of women's political representation. The government did not take heed to any of their suggestions.

According to Dr. Zeina Zaatari “Many women's NGOs have prioritized their missions toward the economic and social needs of women in rural areas and women with little access to resources. These organizations work toward achieving women's rights on the ground. A large number of women's organizations also focus on lobbying and purpose to research and publish their findings on women to influence policy makers and the judicial system. The Lebanese Women's Council LWC, established in the 1950s, serves as an umbrella entity for more than 140 organizations.

One of the very important characteristics of Lebanese politics is the excess of political parties competing for energy and control. There are eighteen political parties in statement in the country, but seven currently dominate the sphere. These political parties are almost all men dominated, and the women that do head these parties are often only there because they are a component of one of the political families and have been put in place for power often because of a sudden death or lack of men left to run in the family. Men advice the leadership of the country, often silencing the women’s voices.

The Lebanese constitution is a French system, which promotes equality between “all” citizens. However, in Lebanon the governmental power of the country is separated by the religious factions based on the size of used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters of their populations. These figures are extremely outdated and are based on a census of the country that was taken in the year 1943. Lebanon formally identifies that there are eighteen religious acknowledgements of Muslim and Christian denominations in the country.

The major political parties thus increase ]

As of 2009 according to Don Duncan of Le Monde Diplomatique English edition, “With only 3.1% of seats now occupied by women, Lebanon is at the bottom of the table of parliamentary description of women in the Middle East, down with conservative Gulf states like: Oman none, Yemen 0.3% and Bahrain 2.7% 2, whereas neighboring Syria has 12.4%, Tunisia has 22.8% and Iraq has a 25% quota for women".