Lebanon: Sison hosts Lebanese women with political ambitions

By Dalila Mahdawi
Daily Star staff

AWKAR: The US Embassy in Beirut hosted a luncheon on Wednesday for Lebanese participants of a US-sponsored "Election Exchange Program" held from October- November.



Almost 50 women political leaders from the Middle East and North Africa traveled to the US "to learn from the US experience in electoral campaigning," discuss the status of democratic, educational, economic and reform efforts in their home countries and witness the US presidential elections, a US Embassy press release said. All women are intending to stand for political positions in their home countries.

US Ambassador Michele Sison welcomed eight of the 13 Lebanese participants at her residence to discuss their experiences during the program.

Ghada al-Yafi, who plans to run in the 2009 elections as an independent candidate, told The Daily Star she had found the program "very enriching, especially for formulating ideas on how to promote democracy and learning tools to bring about change." She, like many other participants, expressed her optimism that women could help bring about political reform in Lebanon.

According to Ferial Abu-Hamdan, a project manager at the General Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and who served as a municipal council member from 1998-2004, "The main thing that struck me during the program was the time spent planning and managing campaigns, and how involved young people are in political life." Lebanese were not nearly as committed to volunteer work, she said.

The program impressed on her the necessity of educating people about the importance of voting and spreading political awareness. "If you don't vote, you can't complain," she said.


Dunia al-Khoury, president of the Women's Association of Deir al-Ahmar and one-time representative of the Bekaa to the Lebanese government, reiterated the importance of political involvement. "Lebanon is like a puzzle, each citizen should take part."

Although Lebanese women are increasingly taking on leading positions in the private and educational sectors, they face many obstacles entering politics. Women constitute roughly 56 percent of the population, and yet have less than 5 percent representation in government, numbering only five members of Parliament and one minister.

One difficulty faced by Arab women politicians, said Hamdan, is that "women aren't taken seriously. When I was I at the municipality, I had to continuously defend myself and my ideas ... I was in a higher position than others, but still I wasn't taken seriously because I was a woman."

Women activists have long been calling for a 35 percent quota in representation in the Lebanese government. Addressing the possibility of implementing such a quota, Yafi said, "I'm not for quotas because they go against the principle of democracy, but I am for a women's quota at least during the period of candidacy." According to Khoury, a quota would be "a simple way for women to enter politics. The Lebanese mentality cannot envision women as decision makers."

Implementing a woman's quota would be problematic, as Lebanon already has a quota in place for religious groups. "It is important for democracy to be based on secularism," Yafi said, hoping the religious quota would be abolished.