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EGYPT
/ MASHREQ
Egypt is suffering a cultural crisis caused by the absence
of a clear definition as to what constitutes literature in
writing about religion and how far can the Ulema (religious
clerics) interfer in that definition. After the case of the
well known writer Nawal Saadawi and the charges of blasphemy
raised against her, the book Women and sex in Islam by Moroccan
writer Leyla Ahmed is causing quite a stir. A dichotomy of
views broke out after a declaration made by Abdel Azim Mustafa,
professor of Islamic history at Cairo University, denouncing
the book as insidiously aiming at destroying Islam. The book,
published in 1999 by the National Project for translation,
affiliated to the Higher Cultural Council in Egypt, was described
by the Council s secretary general as "the most important
publication in the English Language on women and their causes
in Islamic culture from a historical perspective".
PALESTINE / MASHREQ
In addition to an intolerable life of violence and brutality
by the Israelis, the Intifada has also aggravated the social
problems suffered by Palestinian women. Another image has
been added to women fighters and throwers of stones, namely
that of women suffering from the darker realites caused by
the social and psychological consequences of daily life. It
is the image of women struggling to feed their children "In
spite of the intifada , life goes on and there are hungry
mouthes to feed", says Raeeda. 'Would you believe it
when I say that things are so bad, I have to depend on a wild
green plant for our daily sustenance? I have cooked it in
so many different ways that my children hate the color green".
Raeeda goes on to describe the psychological effect the war
has had on her children. Her daughter (12 yr.) suffers from
ununary incontinence and her son (9 yr.) runs away from school,
while she has become a familiar face amongst the stone throwers,
first aid workers and security officers, for every time she
hears gunshots, she runs to the scene in search of her husband.
And
there is Intissar and her strange story. The story of a husband
who lost his job like so many other Palestinians. Desperate,
he took the advice of some friends to marry a woman living
inside Israel because of her 1948 status , that way he would
get the Israeli nationality and find work. But Israeli laws
prohibits polygamy, so Intissar' s husband goes to a coroner
for a paper declaring his living wife, dead and leaves her
without a word. After reporting his absence, Intissar went
to the judge to ask for alimony for her four children, thinking
that her husband had divorced her .The shocking news was that
Intissar is legally dead , thus she has no right to alimony
for she does not exist.
In
face of such harsh realites, the WomenCenter for Legal aid
and advice in Palestine , set up in 1961 , tries to provide
some services to help and raise awareness amongs women . Maha
Dayeh, head of the Center, says "the work of the center
depends an raising awareness to the importance of social life
and the need not to neglect it in political action. The country
is facing an economic crisis which has social implications
for all traditional family ties have been broken and half
of the population live as refugees in camps. In such circumstances,
it is essential to protect the woman, for she has lost her
family support in case of problems, and all the other members
of her family have problems of their own.
LEBANON
/ MACHREQ
Princess
Lella Merym , the sister of Moroccan king Mohamad the VI ,
has recently visited Lebanon in response to the invitation
of Lebanon' s First Lady, Mrs. Andre Lahoud . The purpose
of the visit was to allow Lella Merym first hand view of the
conditions in Lebanon, particularly those relating to women
and children, as well as an opportunity to meet with the people
working in both fields.
According to Mrs. Lahoud, the visit was important in view
of the efforts exerted by Lella Meryem in the social field
and which have made her an example to be followed. The appreciation
of UNESCO and her appointment as Good will Ambassador comes
in recognition of all the work that Lella Meryem has done
for children in Morocco and the Arab world, and also on the
international scene in general.
Lella
Meryem is Head of the National Observatory for the Rights
of the Child created in 1995, she is also the Head of the
Parliament for Children, of the Mohamad VI Institute for Moroccans
living abroad and of the Royal Armed Forces Institute for
Social Affairs.
The
women branch in Hizbollah party have convened their first
conference on Women Resistant Fighters in Lebanon Model for
a state and Project for a Nation", in the green city
of Maadreb. The conference was attended by the head of Hizbollah's
parliamentary bloc, MP Mohamad Raad and a number of political
officials and social and cultural dignitaries. Also attending
was the minister of Social Affairs, Dr.Assad Diab, who spoke
of the role of women in the resistance . He indicated that
" resistance and liberation would not have been successful
if it hadn t been the result of the struggle of both men and
women" adding that , "women in our society and in
the resistance does not only constitute half its member but
is also a real partner, equal in everything; this calls for
the need to provide women with the necessary conditions that
support their essential role in the community".
The
conference raised a number of important issues over two days
mainly: The role of women in promoting national unity; Women
and development with the collapse of the occupation and in
the new horizon of liberation; The role of women in the making
of victory and mounting liberation. Live testimonials were
given during the conference by prisoners liberated from Israeli
prisons and by families of martyrs .
The
Lebanese Council to ResistViolence against Women in collaboration
with Friedrich Ebert Institute organised a workshop at Hotel
Alexandre, for lawyers and legal trainees on Violence against
Women. The workshop, as explained by the coordinator of the
committee Ms. Zoya Rohanne, is part of a series of awareness
campaigns aimed at 3 professional sectors; The first was already
concluded, with the participation of around 150 members of
the national security forces; the second targets the legal
profession , while the third is aimed at Doctors.
The
importance of raising awareness amongst lawyers, according
to Ms. Rohana, is that the lawyer is the last resort of tormented
women. Thus, the aim of the workshop, particularly with jurists,
is to underline the need to find legal constraints for violence
through the amendment of existing laws or adoption of new
legislation. This was followed by two testimonials from religions
clerics, Cheikh Mohammad Hassan Fadelallah and Monseigneur
George Khodr, in which they re-affirmed religion's condemnation
of violence against women in all its forms.
Another lecture was given by Dr. Jinane Osta, on the social,
psychological and health consequences of violence on women.
Also Brigitte Chaplan, lawyer, expounded on the bias against
women in the Penal Code, while lawyer Luna Knishkajan spoke
of the prejudice against women in the Personal Status Code.
Mrs.
Andre Lahoud , Lebanon's First Lady and Head of the National
Council for Women Affairs (NCLW), has recently stated that
Gender integration both in theory and in practice is a complicated
process that requires a review of the structures in the community
and the home is the source of inequality. Her words were part
of a speech she gave during the meeting that was convened
by the NCLW, at the Presidential Palace for the Donor Organisations.The
regional Director of Unifem Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazali, also spoke
at the meeting, on the importance of endorsing female leadership
roles in view of eradicating all forms of discrimination against
women. Yves De San, representative of the UN Development Program
referred to the fact that discriminatory laws in Lebanon are
slowly decreasing .
Moreover , the NCLW held a graduation ceremony at the committees
headquarters to hand out diplomas to 16 gender focal points.
The new graduates have been appointed to 13 ministries and
public institutions after completing training workshops on
gender mainstreaming, development, strategic planning and
on how to integrate gender in policies and plans.
Lebanon
was present in June at the European-Mediterranean conference
on Women and Economic development hosted by Belgium, Head
of the European Council for 6 months. Lebanon was represented
at the conference unofficially by a delegation of two staff
of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Mme Mrad and Marina Diab
and Fadi Yarak from The Rene Mouawad Foundation, and Ilham
Charabati from the Association of Business Women. The delegation
presented a report in french, on the conditions of working
women in Lebanon and their participation in economic development
. The report referred to the interest of many female and civil
organisations in elaborating a National strategy aimed at
raising awareness to the conditions of women, in accordance
with Beijing +95. The report also included some statistics
on the extent of female participation in the different sectors
and alluded to the policies of discrimination and unequal
pay practiced by some private institutions with no means of
stopping them. The same bias according to the report is present
in the administration were the rules of employment and promotion
are not equally applied to women.
The
first secretary at the Belgium Embassy, Annick Van Calster,
later explained that the results of the conference will be
discussed at the Ministerial European-Mediterranean Conference,
scheduled for the 5 & 6 of October; the resolutions issued
are expected to be part of a future program to be implemented
for the support of women and their role in the economic development
of this region.
Under
the auspices of the Head of the Center for Research and Cultural
Development, Dr. Nimeh Freiha , the Association for Family
Planning held a debate at the Mariott Hotel on "The image
of women in the new scholastic curriculum and textbooks".
A large number of officials and representatives of concerned
associations attended the debate in which Dr. Freiha spoke
of the importance of women's role and image in text books
at the elementary level, stressing that it has been arranged
with care and harmony. Freiha also expressed his hope that
equal interest would be given to the other existing images
in textbooks particularly that of the man and hero.
Moreover,the Newspaper Al-Moustakbal published a detailed
study prepared by Dr. Fauzi Ayoub for the National Supervisory
Committee, on "The image of women in the new scholastic
curriculum". The study examined the image and position
of women in the textbooks on civic education from a gender
perspective. Well, to start with the man's share in the group
of authors in charge of the textbooks is 3 times the share
of women. This alone shows a discrimination against women
in the formation of the committee of authors, not with standing
the fact the supervisory committee is made up only of men;
not one women is to be found amongst the 18 advisors on scholastic
textbooks!
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