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About the newsletter
Why the Gender Equity Newsletter?
This newsletter aims to connect gender actors and practitioners in Lebanon through the exchange expertise, in an attempt to create a space for better collaboration, networking, and equal access to knowledge, research, and information. Each issue will cover the work of actors, their activities, and projects, in addition to recommending relevant resources and tools, as well as information and statistics relevant to gender work in Lebanon.
The gender equity newsletter is a part of the Gender Collaborative Information and Knowledge Network- a project by Lebanon Support in partnership with Diakonia
The Gender Collaborative Information and Knowledge Network is an online collaborative platform. It is part of Lebanon Support’sCivil Society Knowledge Centre (CSKC) and brings together civil society organizations, researchers, practitioners, and experts to enhance local and national capacities, improve access to knowledge and its development, and provide evidence-based research, information, and literature on gender issues and concerns.
1. Featured papers on the Gender Equity Information & Research Network
By: Dalya Mitri
From Public Space to Office Space: The NGO-ization of the women’s movements in Lebanon and its impact on mobilizing women and achieving social change
Women’s movements are usually perceived to be the frontrunners of emancipatory social change. Yet, these movements in Lebanon seem to be in a difficult position to transform, mobilize and, ultimately, bring about social change. Instead, the institutional form of NGOs appears to be more stable, highly funded by international donors and relying on highly skilled professionals. However, NGOs do not possess the same mobilizing capacities since they are run by professionals aiming to target a specific group and implement a specific project. A women’s movement, on the other hand, aims to attract a large number of people, aiming for a common goal and trying to have a positive impact on social change. This paper will try to assess the impact of the professionalization (or NGO-ization) of women’s groups, the extent to which it transforms the discourse and structure of these organizations, the importance of the context in which they are operating, and their links to other social or political groups, state institutions and international donors. The main focus of this paper is to explore the effect or impact that these new forms of NGO-ized feminism has on the mobilization of various lebanese social groups. Read article in Arabic.
*NOTE: these papers are translated versions of papers published in the first issue of the Civil Society Review, available for sale at Virgin Megastore or at our office in Furn el-Chebbak.
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The Civil Society Review, our newest publication, and the first peer-reviewed journal on civil society issues in Lebanon, is for sale at our office and in all branches of Virgin Megastore.
For more info, contact us on: contact@lebanon-support.org
A preview is available here.
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2. Resumption of our round table series on gender projects and organisations in Lebanon ان
“Let’s talk about sex”: Rethinking sexual rights and reproductive health programmes in Lebanon
Presentation by Lebanon Support’s consultant, Dalya Mitri.
With discussants:
Caroline Sukkar
Vice-President of the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering, Researcher in Feminist studies.
Rola Yasmine
Coordinator of the A project, Researcher on reproductive and sexual health, and a registered nurse.
Sexual and reproductive rights are a subset of human rights. Reproductive rights could be whether and when to have children, access to reproductive healthcare (birth control, safe abortion) prenatal and obstetric care, and access to information. Based on this definition, agendas and policies of international organisations and INGOs are influencing the shape of the approaches and projects implemented by local actors. International organisations and local NGOs in Lebanon mainly work on reducing maternal mortality, family planning and STIs, and LGBTIQ organisations offer medical support, thus focusing on a medicalised aspect of reproductive and sexual health and a medicalised approach to bodies. To put it in other words, the focus seems to favour health over rights, and the reproductive over the sexual. Also, the Lebanese context and its patriarchal structure calls for rethinking the ability of women to choose whether and when to have children free of social or familial pressure, to own their bodies, desires and sexuality choices, hence the need to resituate the debate in the broader frame of gender power relations.
This round table will discuss the application of sexual and reproductive rights programmes in the local context. To which extent are the international definition and funding policies of reproductive health shaping the work of local NGOs and associations? How do we shift the focus from a medical approach to a more holistic approach of bodies, including mental health? How could local organisations address the rights for women to have a sexual life, aside from the reproductive function? In a context of humanitarian crises, how do we assess the relevance of implemented reproductive health programmes? How to revive the debate on abortion rights?
This round table is part of a series in the frame of the Gender Equity Information & Research Network project.
The discussion will be held in Arabic.
Date: Thursday, 6th of October 2015, at 6:00pm
Location: Lebanon Support’s NEW office (5th flr, Abdallah bldg, al-Mountazah st, Furn el-Chebbak, Mount Lebanon, Lebanon - follow this link for the map)
For further information and confirmation of attendance, contact us on: contact@lebanon-support.org
3. Call for contributions: Lebanese, refugee and migrant women in Lebanon
Lebanon Support, in collaboration with Najdeh Association, encourages contributions from scholars, practitioners, activists, and civil society experts, feminists and human rights activists, focusing on status, discrimination and violence and other related topics, issues and/or concerns affecting all women residing on Lebanese territory, including Palestinians, Syrians, and other refugees and/or foreigners. Authors can submit papers in Arabic, English or French. All papers will go through a double blind peer-review process and must comply with Lebanon Support’s guidelines. All selected papers will be published online in the Gender Equity Information and Research Network, on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. Selected papers will be considered for in-print publications in Lebanon Support’s journal, Civil Society Review.
Priority will be given to submissions that adopt a radical and critical approach to gender related concepts and categories, engage with a solid theoretical framework, and are based on fieldwork research. Papers should not exceed 10000 words. Activist testimonies are also encouraged; testimonies should not exceed 3000 words.
Paper abstracts in Arabic, English or French (not exceeding 600 words, specifying the theme, type of fieldwork, research questions, etc.), along with a CV and an unedited writing sample should be sent to mabiyaghi@lebanon-support.org(link sends e-mail) and editor@lebanon-support.org(link sends e-mail) before October 15th, 2015.
4. New feature on interactive mappings: Reports on map -
Main observations on the violence against women mapping | August, 2015
Publishing Date: August, 2015
Author: Maya El Ammar
Organisation: KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation
Email: maya.ammar@kafa.org.lb
Almost a year ago, Lebanon Support (LS) and KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation (KAFA) started a collaboration within the framework of the “Gender Equity Information & Research Network” project, as part of Lebanon Support’s Civil Society Knowledge Center initiative (CSKC).
Since then, KAFA has been benefiting from the CSKC platform to improve the public’s access to documented cases of femicide (killing of women) and violence against women (VAW) in Lebanon. The first phase of the collaboration consisted in illustrating on the map, as accurately as possible, cases of femicide and VAW as reported by local media. Read the full report here.
5. FOCUS ON
MENA Organization for Services, Advocacy, Integration and Capacity building (MOSAIC)
MOSAIC is a holistic, gender-neutral and strategic program committed to improving the health and wellness of marginalised groups in Lebanon and beyond. We strive to create mosaic communities, where individuals of different sexual orientations and gender identities/roles coexist, on the basis of understanding and mutual respect and introduce more inclusive approaches in the fight against homophobia.
MOSAIC address service gaps for men rape survivors by providing training in clinical management of male rape survivors through a Clinical Male Rape (CMR) training manual. This manual on forensic and clinical care for sexual violence survivors is intended to contribute to the efforts of various stakeholders in addressing sexual violence. The manual will aid health care providers in managing sexual violence clinically in the best and most professional manner. Additionally, this manual guides health care providers to undertake forensic examination, specimen collection, analysis, and document, provide clinical management to survivors.
Challenges:
Challenges towards achieving gender equality in Lebanon include sectarianism and limited participation of women in the political decision-making process, especially when pertaining to discrimination against women. The involvement of religious institutions in decisions pertaining to women – such as abortion, marital rape, and violence against women, custody and passing of full citizenship to offspring – hinders gender equality changes in the country.
MOSAIC considers that the main demands of women’s organisations in Lebanon should be the following:
• Law that criminalises marital rape;
• Women’s right to pass on full citizenship to their children;
• Legalising abortion;
• Providing equal job opportunities based on meritocracy rather than gender quota in the workplace;
• Demand the government to provide free daycare services for children of working mothers.
[link to Daleel Madani profile]
4. Gender news
Women took the lead in the recent protests that took place in Beirut over the waste management crisis, participating and playing important roles in the coordination of the campaigns, and getting arrested by authorities at times. Local feminist community, Sawt Al Niswa (SAN), reported testimonies of sexual harassment cases taking place during protests, notably on the 20th of September 2015.
Sad cases of violence against women and femicide continue to happen in Lebanon, in August 2015 a man killed his mother, stabbing her 7 times.
Human Rights Watch issued a report on the 26th of September, calling on the Lebanese army to release and reveal the whereabouts of Layal al-Kayaje, detained by Military Intelligence after she alleged that she had been raped and tortured by Military Intelligence during a previous arrest in 2013.
Nadia Ahmad is the West Bank’s first female taxi driver and is transcending traditional gender roles. Despite family and societal pressures, Ahmad has encouraged 6 other women to attain their taxi licenses and she is on her way to starting Palestine’s first all women taxi company.
The United Nations Security Council was briefed by an Iraqi and a Syrian man about ISIS targeting LGBT individuals, and those perceived as LGBT.
Following two years of research and consultation,Amnesty International voted to adopt a policy supporting decriminalisation of sex work, in spite offacing backlash from some women’s rights organisations and activists. Their policy however, aims toprotect sex workers, while criminalising human trafficking in all its forms, and waswelcomed by sex workers.
Chelsea Manning faced indefinite solitary confinement for a series of slight and seemingly insignificant infringements in prison. Her supporters have started anonline petition protesting this, and listing in detail the charges she faces. She, however, wasfound guilty of all charges during her hearing on the 18th of August, andwas sentenced to 21 days with restrictions on recreational activities, such as access to gym, library or outdoors.
In music relevant news, after Dr Dre released his first album in 15 years, and was featured in a documentary about his first group N.W.A., critics and women’s rights activists have pointed out the whitewashing of his history of violence against women in the documentary, recalling his record in violence against women, as well as criticised the rape and violent lyrics in his new album.
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