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Ballerina Georgette Gebara honored again

10-5-2018

Under the patronage of culture minister, Ghattas Khoury, the Lebanese American University, LAU, paid tribute yesterday to Lebanese ballerina, academic and choreographer Georgette Gebara, during a ceremony in Irwin Hall. This comes less than three weeks after Gebara’s honoring by the Maqamat Dance Theatre. During the event, the chairperson of the Department of Communication Arts at LAU, Dr. Jad Melki, presented the Festival NEXT 2018 (from May 9-11) to Gebara. Minister Khoury revealed a plan set by his ministry to develop the art of dancing in Lebanon. For his part, LAU president, Dr. Joseph Jabra, said Gebara’s honoring is not a surprise, as the university is an educational cultural venue involved with promoting brilliance and creativity in society. After her receiving a painting designed especially for the occasion, Gebara thanked all those who contributed to the event, recounting the successes as well as the challenges throughout her career life. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, May 10, 2018)

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On new women of Parliament

9-5-2018

In its today’s edition, L’Orient Le Jour wrote about women representation in the new Lebanese Parliament, pointing to a modest share not exceeding 4.68%, whereby only six women landed seats out of the 128 seats in the legislature. These include two lawmakers that have been re-elected, and they are, Bahiya Hariri the aunt of premier Saad Hariri for Future Movement, and Sitrida Tawk Geagea, wife of Lebanese Party chief, Samir Geagea, who retains her seat for the LF Party since 2005. The new faces voted into the Parliament are, the minister of state for administrative reform, Dr. Inaya Izzedine, representing Amal Movement in the South 2nd District; Paula Yacubian, television journalist and member of 7 Party, for Beirut 1st District; Rula Tabsh Jarudi, lawyer, representing Future Movement in Beirut 1st District and Dima Jamali, university professor and development consultant from the North, representing Future Movement as well. In its analysis, L’Orient Le Jour said the ratio of women in the new parliament is dramatically low, indicating reluctance on part of the major political parties to recruit women on their electoral lists. Parties, like the Kataeb (phalange) party, the PSP, Marada, Hizbullah, FPM and the Syrian Socialist Nationalist party did not back women’s access to the legislature, the newspaper explained. It concluded by saying that, in the absence of a law that enforces a minimum 30% female representation quota, Lebanese women cannot make it to the House of Representatives. In this respect, Jeolle Abu Farhat from Women in Front association, said the poor turnout was expected, pledging to continue her advocacy campaign and struggle to prop the participation of women in political life, revealing that work is underway to pressure for the appointment of women ministers in the new cabinet. (L’Orient Le Jour, An Nahar, May 9, 2018)

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Garden Show & Spring Festival in Beirut

9-5-2018

Under the patronage of the First Lady, Nadia Aoun, and the support of Beirut Governor, Ziad Shebib, the 15th edition of the Garden Show & Spring Festival will take place at the Beirut Hippodrome on May 30th. Under the theme, ‘Sounds in the Garden’, the 4-day event organized by Hospitality Services and Miriam Shuman, is expected to receive over 20 thousand visitors. Some 220 exhibitors will showcase beautiful plants and flowers, as well as, latest gardening equipment and trends in outdoor furniture and spaces. The show will also host workshops with horticulture specialists, in addition to a farmer’s market that promotes local produce. To note, Travel Lebanon in its 5th edition will be held concurrently with the above show. It will spotlight the tourism sector in the country through gathering some 60 local tour operators, eco-tourism experts, NGOs and municipalities, while helping showgoers plan their summer holidays in Lebanon. (Al Diyar, May 9, 2018)

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Only six women candidates voted to Parliament

8-5-2018

The results of the May 6 Parliamentary elections for the year 2018, in terms of women representation, were disappointing, with victory not exceeding the threshold of 6.8%. To recall, the total number of women candidates for the elections was as high as 86 women out of a total of 598 candidates, equivalent to 14.3%, according to ministry of interior figures, and representing is a noticeable increase compared to 2009 when only 4 women won the elections out of only 12 women candidates. The total number of women candidates this year originally was as high as 111 candidates out of 976 total candidates before the close of registration. According to incomplete official results announced yesterday, the winning women candidates were: Paula Yacubian (7 Party) from ‘Kuluna Watani’ Alliance, Beirut 1st District, Rula Tabsh (Future Movement) for Beirut 2nd District, Bahiya Hariri (Future) South 1st District, Inaya Izzedine (Amal Movement) for South 2nd District, Dima Jamali (Future Movement) for North 2nd District and Sitrida Tawk Geagea (LF Party) for the North 3rd District. On the other hand, Jumana Hadad recruited on the ‘Kuluna Watani’ civil society electoral list for the minorities seat in Beirut 1st District, said there has been vote-rigging of the results after her victory was confirmed by the electoral machine of ‘Kuluna Watani’, adding that on the next day she was robbed of the seat that was given to the Free Patriotic Movement candidate. Haddad demanded re-tallying of the votes and threatened to appeal before the Constitutional Council. On female participation, MP elect Paula Yacubian, declared one day before the elections, that women have yet to overcome many roadblocks in order to reach political decision-making positions. And despite the relatively large number of women nominated for this year’s elections, only a few of them shall see victory, Yacubian maintained, pointing out that Lebanon is still a patriarchal country. Al Diyar wrote that many women voters interviewed by the BBC said they were not very optimistic about the upsurge in the number of women in the Legislative. (Al Diyar, An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, May 5, 6, 2018)

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Arab women rights: Moroccan women appointed as ‘Ma2zoons’, more Saudi reforms

8-5-2018

The women of Morocco are participating for the first time in a state exam to become a ma’zoon (the person who officiates or registers marriages), noting that this job has been reserved for men for religious reasons. Women can take up the role of the ma’zoon now following a rare fatwa (religious decree) in the Islamic world issued last January to this effect. This decision, however, has triggered a backlash for being allegedly a deviation from the core principles of Islam that forbid a female to carry out the job based on the fact that her testimony is half that of her male peer. On the subject, a Moroccan justice ministry official supervising the exam told AFP that women represent nearly 40% of the 19 thousand candidates competing for 800 new ma’zoon vacancies to be selected according to merit only. One of the contestants, Sarah (25 years), described the decision as fair, as it shows real progress towards gender equality. Bushra, 32, did not rule out the fact that she and other female ma’zoons could face obstacles from a conservative community. Meanwhile, on the Saudi reforms front, Al Diyar newspaper in its first of May issue asked if the Saudi society is ready progressive moves related to women, the last of which was the announcement last February by the Saudi Directorate of Public Security to accept women in military posts for the rank of soldier in 7 districts of the Kingdom. (Al Diyar, An Nahar, May 1, 8, 2018)

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Dr. Fadia Kiwan director general of Arab Women Organization

8-5-2018

The foreign ministry announced in a statement last week that Dr. Fadia Kiwan has been elected director general of the Arab Women Organization (AWO) for the period 2018-2022, as a successor for Dr. Mirvat Tellawi, during the elections held at the Organization premises in Cairo. The appointment of Kiwan, the statement said, came at the request of the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) and in coordination with the foreign ministry and the ministry of state for women’s affairs. It marks the culmination of Kiwan’s career path with AWO, noting that she has been one of the first women to accompany the inception of the organization, according to the statement. Commenting on the decision, the minister of state for women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian, said Kiwan shall support Lebanese women in their struggle to consolidate their rights and presence in public life. To recall, Kiwan is a political science professor and holds a doctorat d’etat in political science from the Paris 1 Sorbonne University, and a CAPES in philosophy and psychology from the Lebanese University. She is also the founder and former director of the Institute of Political Science at USJ, the representative of the President of the Republic at the Conseil Permanent de la Francophonie, a researcher and consultant at several Arab and international organizations, a member of the United Nations University Council (UNU) between 2007-2013, the president of the scientific committee of the Management of Social Transformations Program (MOST) at UNESCO headquarters, former representative of Lebanon in the executive board of AWO and a member of NCLW executive bureau. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, May 4, 2018)

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Major French shipping agency funds four Lebanese startups

4-5-2018

The general manager of the French maritime transport, CMA CGM Group, Rodolph Saadeh, granted during his visit to Lebanon this week a sum of USD 100 thousand to four Lebanese startups selected by his company within the partnership framework with the incubator SMART ESA. According to said agreement, CMA CGM will contribute through its holding merit venture to the development and support of startups covered by the incubator (https://bit.ly/2HuFDpH ). Saadeh announced during a ceremony held yesterday on the occasion at Le Grey, Beirut, the names of the winning startups assigning USD 25,000 for each, in return for 8.5% of its capital. The winning startups are: BlocRecs, which offers blockchain technologies for storage and transmission of information remotely in order to verify the authenticity of university degrees; Otocar, allows parents to follow in real time the school bus trips of their children; Reable, supports persons with disabilities to be financially dependent, and finally, Triend, innovating an application for travel reservations via the internet. (L’Orient Le Jour, May 4, 2018)

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Patriarchal society limiting options of women voters

4-5-2018

In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper published an article by Dr. Omar Nashabeh on the security of the elections and the exploitation of authority in Lebanon, including a paragraph on abuse of women to this effect. According to Nashabeh, the patriarchal ruling establishment in the country pushes the male breadwinner of the household to decide the electoral choices for all family members, noting that in any event, the husband sees no need to sway his wife to make the decision, accepting as true, her “ignorance in politics”. Therefore, Nashabeh analyzed, the most common justification for the wife is to fully confide in her husband’s “wise” electoral preference, ironically noting that, some wives who are holders of university degrees in political science, end up with the same fate. Patriarchal repression, Nashabeh writes, is exacerbated in a society encumbered with confessionalism and sectarianism, whereby machos rely largely on their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to fuel emotions with the aim curb logical reasoning. Added to this, is the emotionalization involved to purportedly protect and safeguard fellows from the same sect, as if elections determine their existence or non-existence. A wife who overtly opposes the preference of her husband, father or brother is dubbed either “a rebel” or “a reckless revolutionary”, and sometimes stigmatized as “a cheater”. As is rumored, Nashabeh went on to say, the wife’s coup against her husband’s electoral choice, is not brought about by reasoning or persuaded by a conviction in an alternative political program, but rather stemmed from clashing emotional, personal or sentimental factors. Concluding, Nashabeh said a masculine conviction is established which believes that treatment of such rebellious instances cannot be outside the context of repression and coercion. Besides the key flaw in personal status which requires the Lebanese woman after marriage to relocate to her husband’s registry, again binds her to choices unrelated to her original environment. For the full article, kindly refer to the link below: https://bit.ly/2HMecLH . (Al Akhbar, May 4, 2018)

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2018 election: Manal Kortam, symbolically running for Palestinian’s rights

4-5-2018

Tripoli-born Palestinian woman from Lebanese mother and Palestinian father, Manal Kortam (40 years) has nominated herself for the mock Palestinian seat in the Lebanese Parliament to raise awareness among political factions about the rights of Palestinian refugees as noted in her electoral program. On the subject, Manal said the idea stemmed from the elections and that all candidates have programs that speak of social justice and democracy, and she found it important to implement social justice not only for Lebanese citizens but for all residents in the country, including Palestinian refugees. On her social media accounts as well as during her tours to refugee camps, Kortam explained the purpose behind launching her symbolic campaign through the hashtag #We Exist#. She also posed in posters that reflect slogans similar to those displayed by various Lebanese political parties, but with slight amendments, like for example, the slogan of the Kataeb (Phalange) Party ‘The pulse of the nation’ became ‘the pulse of the isolated people’. In conclusion, Kortam maintained that “somebody needed to say that there are people who have been in this country for nearly 70 years but have no place at all in politics,” and demanding that social and economic rights of Palestinians be observed. (An Nahar, May 4, 2018)

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USEK Entrepreneurship competition

3-5-2018

The Asher Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) organized its annual entrepreneurship competition: USEK New Venture Challenge 2018. Three winning projects were selected from the fields of engineering, agriculture, music, health, sports, science, business and technology. Student Jason Asaad won the first place for his ‘Overlay’ venture, followed by Hussein Fawwaz for ‘Fusion’. The third winners were Antony Azzi and Elie Nasr for their joint ‘Parasun’ project. On the occasion, the director of the Asher Center, Elias Abu Fadel, stressed the importance of the event not as a student competition, but also as an opportunity to highlight the interest of the university, its deans and professors in supporting entrepreneurs and in their efforts to find solutions to the challenges they face, in addition to the provision of required resources and promotion of the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship inside USEK campus. (Al Akhbar, May 3, 2018)

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