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50.0%ANMag Issue 25 Public Surveillance
Sexism in the Cedar Land
By Farah Salka, Staff Writer
Beirut, Lebanon – When one attempts at discussing the status of women in Lebanon these days and comparing it with that of women in the Arab world, challengers ignorantly bring about the stereotypes of the women at the forefront of Lebanese media as examples to back their invalid arguments. This includes Haifa, Marwa, Elissa, Melissa and their sound/act/look-alikes. Outsiders believe that the typical seemingly-liberated bodies that are circulated around all the music channels, actually do represent the whole of the situation of Lebanese women. Wrong.
Primarily, not all women are the type of women you see on media outlets whether it is video clips that we are discussing, magazine covers or concert entertainers. Secondly and most importantly, even if that was the case, is having the “freedom” to leave the house with a bra (call it sexy shirt; it sounds more decent) and underwear (call it tight shorts; it sounds more diplomatic) enough of a prerequisite to directly judge that the status of women here is way too enlightened than that of other case studies? Status has way much more to it than looks and colors.
It is not easy to start when you have so many examples you can provide. In Lebanon, there is no equality between men and women, not even potential equality. Now I know this is such an obvious statement and silly from my side to shout it out as news. What I would like to add to it is that there is no equality neither on the basis of: nationality, employment, compensation, equal pay, educational benefits, violence nor balanced judgment on the basis of the penal law. Elaboration would help.
Pertaining to nationality, although Jordan, Iraq and Egypt have passed this law lately and Yemen and Morocco are in the process of doing so, Lebanon remains a country where the law does not allow a Lebanese woman married to a non-national to grant citizenship to her children. Needless to say although I will, a Lebanese man certainly can grant citizenship to his children regardless of the nationality of his wife, even if his children were born out of the country. A foreign woman’s children (married to a Lebanese) are granted the nationality while the children of a Lebanese woman are simply not. So basically if I decide I want to continue my life next to a Dominican husband, and I decide to do that in Lebanon, I shall expect to live side by side by my children who shall forever be deemed non-Lebanese by my government. This certainly adds to the list of why I am a fervently proud national.
Pertaining to employment, labor laws and social security laws also discriminate against women employees who are not being subject to the same conditions as men. This is occurring despite the fact that the Lebanese government deducts monthly from women employees' salaries no less than what they deduct from men's salaries. If both sexes have the responsibility of financing the Lebanese cooperative fund equally, then why are they not both receiving the same rights and conditions in return? In Lebanon, we do not face a grave problem with our female illiteracy rates. In fact, we do have high levels of educated women, relative to the Arab world rates, that is. Sad-to-note however, is the fact that our schools and universities generate so many competent women, out of which very few if any end up in senior work positions, positions that are almost relentlessly reserved for the other sex. The most obvious example would be how female employees are flooding the banks when the answer to how many female senior bank directors there are is about null.
Pertaining to the political arena, women gained their political rights in 1953. Fifty-five years after that, we find no more than 6 women (this figure being the optimum so far) in a parliament which includes 128 members. This adds up to less than 5% participation, not a very good reputation for equality, numbers would say.
Pertaining to the penal law, some steps have been taken and laws modified, yet still, leaps remain untracked. What is termed as “honor crimes” obviously remains one of the worst forms of backwardness in Lebanese laws. If a husband finds any of his female relatives, be it a daughter or a wife or a cousin, having sexual intercourse with another man, whether in their house or any other place as a matter of fact, then he has the green light; he can kill her. What is meant by ‘he has the green light’ is that although the act will officially be deemed as a crime, the murderer, who is known in this case, will not be punished by law. Some people believe there is hope in the new proposed law. Ironically enough, what the new draft law is proposing is the following. Rather than getting rid of an old penal law that is so outdated and outrageous, what has been proposed is limiting the scope of females that fit under the category of potential victims whereby now the man can only empty his bullets on his wife, if caught in the act, not on a sister or a relative anymore. What has also been proposed is that not only can the husband face no charges when killing his wife. Guess what? Now the wife is being granted the privilege also to kill her husband if she finds him under certain circumstances without worrying about being put to trial herself afterwards. This is typical Lebanese logic in solving a problem.
On another note, also under the same Lebanese penal code, a man has the right to charge his wife with adultery in front of the court if he finds her having sex with a man wherever, meaning in any side’s house, in a hotel, in another village and so on. A woman can not charge her husband with adultery if she caught him betraying her with another woman unless he was doing so in their own bed. Any other location is fine by law.
Pertaining to violence against women, it must be noted that it not only includes actions perpetrated by the husband but also by the brother, father, employer and co-worker. This would include domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment at work, father hitting his daughter, stalking in the street, forced marriages, and even marital rape. This majorly happens as a consequence of having boys and girls raised differently. Men simply do not take ‘no’ for an answer; it is not part of their mentality as males. Husbands, generalizations withstanding, ignorantly perceive marriage as a sex contract. Sex without consent is marital rape but how do you wander about solving that in a country which has callous laws as this?
You have two cases of abused women: Those who speak out and those who do not. Those who repress their oppression are merely doing so because of all societal pressures of reputation, dignity, honor and fear. Those who are having the courage to speak out are not doing any better. Some are strong enough to gather what is left of their strengths after a brother has beaten them up. They go to the nearest police station only to be faced with crueler comments from insensitive men or merely statements like, “Go back home, we do not deal with family matters.” Family matters?!! Since when and till when will bruised women and raped wives stay family matters that police share the indifference of ignoring as if they are minute cases that do not add up to dozens of shattered lives?
In Lebanon, if a woman is raped and the person responsible for the crime agrees to marry her, then again he is pardoned. So in theory, any man who is interested in a woman and constantly finds rejection from her side can resort to an easier means of reaching his goal: raping her. After all, experience has proven that every time a rape occurs, and the perpetrator is caught, he proposes for marriage and the parents certainly agree (who cares if the victim agrees) and then a whole crime is shut down because the law said so.
Last year witnessed the highlighted revival of women’s rights in several areas of the globe. We have seen Argentina pronounce Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as president, Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Micheline Calmy-Rey in Switzerland and Pratibha Patil in India. Women rights activists in Lebanon are not necessarily asking for a female president this year (since a president of either sex is not very likely soon). All they are working for is a basic minimum standard for decent equality, not fake hopes and proposed laws that never see the light.