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The administration of the Rashayya public hospital announced the launch of its yearly national campaign for early detection of breast cancer for women aged between 40 and 70 years. The campaign which is organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Public will continue until December 31st 2012 and will provide free breast cancer detection tests, adding that the campaign falls within other free service provision schemes offered by the hospital. The general manager of Rashayya hospital, Mr. Zaher Naim, declared that the hospital is now offering in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and the Italian Cooperation a package of free services including lab tests, x-rays, and medical consultations to women who do not benefit from any form of health coverage; services which cover the period during and after pregnancy.  

The Arab Organization for Agricultural Development and the Arab Women Organization organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture a conference entitled “The pan-Arab gathering on rural women and food security”.  The event which was started on Monday October 8th for two days included the presentation 22 papers from 11 Arab countries covering various women’s experiences in rural areas.  
According to the Al Safir newspaper, the discussions focused on clarifying various scenarios for promoting the participation of rural women in food security whilst noting the absence of official statistics on the number of women working in rural areas and the extent of their participation in agro-processing and in the GDP. Participants also noted that they key challenge that rural women face is the lack of awareness resulting from low educational levels as well as limited official efforts to allow rural women to access resources.  The Conference highlighted the general weakness of women organizations and CSOs in developing a vision to integrate rural women in agriculture and development.  Some mention was made of related on-going initiatives such as the “smart programme” in Lebanon which resulted in the creation of 42 cooperatives affiliated to the Ministry as well as the National Observatory of Rural Women (NOWARA) which is also under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and which seeks to develop sustainable economic development in rural areas through strengthening women’s participation.
Al Safir also noted the relatively limited level of participation in the event and the quasi absence of rural women from the conference and raised serious doubts about the various initiatives that Arab states have launched to support rural development.  The head of the food industry department in the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture also raised a key question as to why there is no official policy to promote rural women in the Arab world or to support the agricultural sector.  She went on to say that whenever such decisions are made, they normally serve narrow political and electoral interests.  For his part, the Lebanese Minister of Agriculture noted that there is no special budget allocation for rural women although there are circa 100,000 women working in the agricultural sector.
 

Source: Almustaqbal, Assafir

The parliamentary commission for women and children headed by M.P. Gilberte Zouien met on Monday 8 October and agreed to introduce revisions to two articles of the NSSF law.  The article now allows spouses of citizens registered in the NSSF to benefit from its provision provided that they are a) not employed; b) do not benefit from other forms of coverage from a compulsory public system; c) are not members in a professional order; and d) are not registered in commercial register.
In the case of polygamy, the registered spouse and his first legal wide will be the sole beneficiaries from the NSSF.
The Parliamentary commission hoped that the head of the NSSF, Dr. Mohammad Karaki, will follow up the issue of benefits for the second wife (in case of polygamous households) and will speed up the referral of the law petition regarding maternity leave to Parliament and ensure that it is included on its agenda after being discussed by the relevant commissions.

Source: Annahar, Almustaqbal

The Al Akhbar newspaper published a report on the challenges faced by migrant women domestic workers in the absence of a fair law that regulates their employment.  Their current legal situation is subject to a tri-partite contract between the employer, the employment office and the migrant workers whilst article 7 of the Lebanese labor law (dated 23/9/1946) specifically excludes domestic workers.  As a result, a number of migrant women workers began seeking ways to earn their livelihoods outside the usual household boundaries where they often face various forms of coercion and abuse.  Free lancing appears to be a preferred option for many migrant workers as it gives them more freedom and agency.
The paradox however is that this choice remains illegal and migrant women workers caught free-lancing are often arrested and deported according to the current regulations.  A number of employment agencies have suggested to the Al Akhbar reporters that a new law be put in place providing migrant women workers with the choice of either working for one household or free-lancing.

Source: Al-Akhbar

The Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Peace organized in collaboration with Diakonia a seminar in Tripoli to launch its new programme “Woman’s initiative and her participation in decision making at the national and local levels”.  The seminar was attended by 40 women and other local activists and focused on the objectives of the new programme as well as on ways of strengthening the role of women in the civil society sector and at the community level.  Discussions also emphasized the importance of advocacy and team work in order to succeed in changing behavior.

Source: Almustaqbal

According to a report published by Al Nahar, pottery making in Lebanon is more than a few thousand years all and is a distinct traditional and generational know how in the village of Rashayya al Fakhar.  The report notes that this age old skills is very much neglected and has shrunk considerably as a result of lack of investment and absence of marketing outlets as well as the indifference of the young generation.  To date, only two pottery workshops remain from the forty workshops documented in the fifties.  Although there is now a cooperative specialized in pottery making, it has yet to become fully operational especially since its premises are not fully ready yet.

Source: Annahar