By Dana Khraiche
BEIRUT: For all its virtues,
Lebanese society continues to be heavily influenced by patriarchal culture,
making it a daunting challenge for women to achieve political influence and
power. Yet change may be in the offing.
“We need to dare to think
differently,” asserts renowned Lebanese-American journalist Raghida Dergham in
a telephone conversation with The Daily Star.
What does she mean? Well, Dergham
has a revolutionary idea.
“Nobody is preventing us from
forming a women’s political party,” she points out.
Dergham, who is based in New York
but retains strong personal and professional links to Lebanon, believes that in
order for women to effect change, they need to insert themselves into the
decision-making process. A women’s political party would judge governmental
policies based on the extent to which they advance women’s causes.
Although women in Lebanon have
enjoyed the right to vote since 1952, they remain woefully underrepresented in
politics. In 2009, a grand total of four women were elected to Lebanon’s
128-member Parliament: Nayla Tueni, Strida Geagea, Bahia Hariri and Gilberte
Zouein. Only 12 of the 587 parliamentary candidates were women.
The first two female ministers in
Lebanese history were only appointed in 2004. And the practice has not even
taken hold. When Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced his 30-member Cabinet in
June of last year, it did not include a single woman. Mikati’s womanless
Cabinet was met with heavy criticism by women’s rights activists, many of whom
demanded that some ministers resign to make way for women to be appointed.
Nothing of the sort happened.
To be sure, there are many vocal and
politicized women who have carved out a visible space for themselves in
society. Consider the frequent public protests by women’s groups in support of
a draft law that would criminalize spousal rape and other forms of domestic
violence against women. The draft bill has been under review by a parliamentary
committee since April 2010, amid indignant calls by male politicians and
religious figures to water it down.
Women’s rights activists have also
held several demonstrations demanding the right to grant Lebanese citizenship
to their children. Currently, Lebanese citizenship can only be inherited
patrilineally.
In contrast to individual women
lawmakers, whose presence in the political process has long been limited,
feminist activists in Lebanon have made great strides. For this reason, the
idea of feminists rallying together to advance the status of women appears
feasible.
Micheline Tobia, 24, activist and
editor of online-based Mashallah news, says it is simply not enough for women
to take to the streets regularly with the aim of abolishing laws that
discriminate against them.
“We are not taken seriously, but
maybe we could be more effective within the framework of a political party,”
says Tobia, who is also a Master’s candidate at the American University of
Beirut.
Nadine Mouawad, head of Nasawiya, a
feminist collective in Lebanon, seems enthusiastic about the idea of a
women-led party with a clear feminist platform.
“The women’s movement has not been
very successful because we are up against a political body that is
male-dominated, so we’re always confronting the political system rather than
becoming part of it,” she observes.
“As long as you don’t pose a threat
to the political system, no one is going to take you or your demands
seriously,” Mouawad adds.
That threat, according to Mouawad
and Dergham, can best be made in the form of concentrated political action on
the part of women. Indeed, all other avenues would appear to have been
exhausted. Mouawad stresses that if women do not integrate themselves into
politics, they might lose their last chance to become politically relevant.
There are over 100 active political
parties in Lebanon, most of them affiliated with one or the other of the
country’s two main political alliances. Few women occupy prominent positions in
these alliances, but for some female lawmakers, a women’s political party might
not be the optimal solution.
Lebanese Forces MP Strida Geagea
fears that such a party would merely scare a good number of Lebanese men, and
prefers that existing parties strengthen the role of women internally.
“A feminist political party would
intimidate our male-dominated society; we would be pushing men into a corner
and they would respond by not accepting us,” maintains Geagea, whose party is
in the process of introducing internal quotas for women.
Rayya al-Hasan, one of two women
appointed to ministerial positions by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in
2009, does not believe a women’s party would be advantageous.
“I’m not necessarily against it but
I don’t see how such a party could be a benefit,” she muses. “I think our cause
would move forward if we were better integrated into society and succeeded in
convincing men that we should have a say in the process.”
Geagea and Hasan’s main concern is
that the criteria for choosing candidates to enter elections on behalf of a
women-led party would be based on gender rather than merit.
“[Such a party] wouldn’t be harmful
but it wouldn’t necessarily be helpful, either,” Hasan maintains.
Hayat Arslan, president of the
Committee for Women’s Political Empowerment, dismisses the proposal as having
little chance of success, due to the makeup of the political system and the
current mindset of society.
“We don’t have the maturity or
readiness to form mixed-gender parties, let alone feminist ones, particularly
because political parties here are personalized,” Arslan says, alluding to the
personality-cult many [male] Lebanese political leaders build around
themselves.
Still, she leaves the door ajar
regarding the possibility of forming such a party in the future, saying that if
women’s rights activists rally enough women and men to their cause, perhaps a
political party could be the next step.
The uprisings sweeping the Arab
world have brought to the fore many a misogynist, but also impelled women to
claim their rights. In Egypt, for example, one of the presidential candidates
is a woman. In light of such developments, Dergham says women should break the
mold and embark on a path completely different from that of their predecessors.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel
agrees and appears as though he might even champion the idea of a women’s
political party, saying: “Let us see whether women would succeed more than men,
particularly as we have experienced men in this field.”
He adds that women should be more
persistent, aggressive and willing to run for election – repeatedly, if need be
– until they achieve their goal.
Despite the differences in opinion
over whether a women’s political party would be more efficient and successful
in advancing women’s status, there is a near-consensus among feminist activists
that adopting a quota system in Lebanon’s electoral system would be a good
first step.
Hasan, the former minister, says: “We have a
long way to go and one of the most important measures to be taken to enhance
the role of women is the adoption of a quota system in parliamentary elections,
a transitional measure to encourage more women to run for election.”
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