A local women council follow-up the work of the all-male Deir Kanoon municipality in the Caza of Tyre

As Safir newspaper published an article about the municipality of Deir Kanoon which decided to create a space for women of the town to engage in development and social work.  The town set up a shadow municipal council composed of ten local women with a mandate to monitor the performance of the elected council composed of 15 men and to contribute in identifying and setting local community priorities.  The report further added that generally women’s participation in municipal councils in the Caza of Tyre is very limited with more than 60 municipalities while women comprise 50% of the electors.
The shadow council is headed by activist Lubna Ezzedine who noted that politically women used to be active only as individuals and thus, with minimum local impact.  However, and since early 2013, the municipality has created this space for a larger and more organised women participation in politics regardless of any engagement with political parties.
The work of the shadow women council targets, according to the report, the women population in large and seeks to implement a number of activities aiming at empowering women and encouraging them to partake in social, civil and development work.
Source: Al-Safir 22 June 2013