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Middle East | Lebanon | Politics

Lebanese Women Hail First Female Arab Interior Minister

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Lebanon has appointed the Arab world's first female interior minister in its new government, prising open a wider foothold for women in its overwhelmingly male political scene. Raya al-Hassan is one of four women to take Cabinet jobs in the new coalition, more than ever before in Lebanon and three more than in the last government, in which even the minister for women was a man. Though Hassan has already held top jobs — including finance minister in 2009-2011 — her appointment to a portfolio managing security was hailed as a step forward for women in Lebanese politics.
Middle East | Lebanon | Entrepreneurship

FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS LAUNCH ONLINE SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRACKER IN BEIRUT

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Three female entrepreneurs have kickstarted a sexual harassment tracker in Beirut in the hope of combating crimes against women in the Lebanese capital. A beta version of Harass Tracker—launched on Monday—will provide a three-month trial in the city after which, if successful, it will be expanded across the entire country. The three founders of the initiative—Sandra Hassan, who is based in France, Myra El Mir and Nay El Rahi, both in Lebanon—hope to “empower victims to report” these crimes and “raise awareness as to the frequency and severity of sexual harassment in the cit
Middle East | Lebanon | Education

Amal Clooney Has Launched a Scholarship for Young Lebanese Women

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Amal Clooney hopes to help the next generation of Lebanese girls get a university degree with her new scholarship called 100 Lives. The partnership will help the lucky recipients study for a degree at the United World College in Dilijan, Armenia. 100 Lives is an initiative that hopes to raise awareness of the Armenian Genocide. "This scholarship will give young women from Lebanon the opportunity of a lifetime," Clooney said. "Cross-cultural learning and studying abroad can be transformative. I am grateful to 100 Lives for helping to open doors for these bright and talented young women."
Middle East | Lebanon | Technology

Women in Lebanon show computer coding is not just for the boys

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On 21 November, in Bliss Hall at the American University of Beirut (AUB), a group of nearly 50 young computer programmers gathered at 8am for a hackathon. After coffee and a quick croissant, they were divided into 10 teams, and spent the next 10 hours developing Android apps to solve a social problem of their choice, in line with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. While 20 years ago, the term "hacking" might have connoted images of sinister dweebs clad in black, committing cyber crimes in a grimy basement, today "hack" has been incorporated into polite society; to hack something s
Middle East | Lebanon | Leadership

Syria conflict: With the men away fighting, women take the mantle of community leaders in Lebanon’s refugee camps

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Kharieh Fares is blunt about her role as the leader of a refugee camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. “We women know what’s happening,” she says, having shouldered responsibility for the well-being of dozens who rely on her for basic necessities. “We know what is lacking in our homes.” There are thousands of informal settlements like this one around the country and all of them have a shawish like Ms Fares. But, unlike here, it’s almost always a man’s job. “Yes, it is usually a man,” she says. “But none of them had a mobile phone.” The Syrian civil war, w
Middle East | Lebanon | Arts

For the Women of Lebanon, Camouflage Can Feel Like a Second Skin

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Over the past 30 years, war and conflict in Lebanon has created a life filled with the constant threat of chaos and fear. The Syrian occupation, the country’s civil war, and the 2006 Lebanon War with Israel have shaken the country and set the tone for what Lamia Maria Abillama calls a population of people who are “traumatized victims of relentless hostilities.” Abillama’s series, “Clashing Realities,” speaks to this darkness, specifically the ways in which it affects women. “Like gangrene, violence has invaded their most intimate spaces and haunted each and every asp
Middle East | Lebanon | Business

Lebanon’s creative entrepreneurs

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Lebanon has always prided itself in the entrepreneurship of its business community, with more and more women setting up their own ventures. One prominent woman entrepreneur is no other than Reem Acra, whose fairy-like wedding dresses have been showcased on international catwalks. The Lebanese started designing when she was attending the American University of Beirut in 1982 before grabbing the world’s attention with her glamorous yet fashionably simple creations. Other Lebanese women have been equally successful. Such is the case of Nada Debs, an acclaimed architect whose furniture des
Middle East | Lebanon | Entertainment

Female DJs find the beat in Beirut

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Laila Sarkis, aka El Djette, stands on an elevated platform above the packed crowd of Club 27 in Beirut on a Friday night, with turntables at her fingertips and a computer on her right. She moves to the beat of easy listening, remixed from one side to the other, clearly in her element — as she should be, with 15 years of experience spinning tunes in Beirut’s bars and clubs. Sarkis has female company in the nightlife scene now, but that was not always the case. When she started in 2000, she found herself an anomaly in what was traditionally a man’s world in Lebanon. Since then, the Leb
Middle East | Lebanon | Culture

Lebanese TV host Rima Karaki: I don’t feel like a hero, it was self-respect

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When Rima Karaki cut off the mic after her guest, Hani Sibai, an Islamist sheikh, ordered her to “be silent”, little did she expect it would become a viral video sensation in Lebanon and around the world. Supporters online have hailed her for standing up for women’s rights against a patriarchal religious establishment that sought to subjugate them. But for Karaki herself, it was a simple question of self-respect. “Had I not answered, I would have hated myself, and I don’t want to hate myself,” she told the Guardian in an interview. “When he said shut up, it was no longer
Middle East | Lebanon | Corruption

Lebanese customs agents seize radioactive maxi pads

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Customs agents at an airport in the Lebanese capital seized more than half a ton of maxi pads after radioactive material was detected in the shipment. The Lebanese Finance Ministry said the 30 crates of feminine hygiene products, weighing a total 1,221 pounds, were seized Friday at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut after electronic scanners detected radioactivity in the shipment. Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil ordered a sample from the shipment to be sent to the Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission for testing. The shipment arrived at the airport Friday from Dubai, officia
Middle East | Lebanon | Culture

Lebanese TV Anchorwoman Shuts Down Sexist Islamic Sheikh

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A female Lebanese TV host swatted down a London-based Islamic scholar and sheikh after he told her to “shut up” and said that it was “beneath” him to be interviewed by her because she is a woman. The live interview took place during International Women’s Day weekend. Host Rima Karaki was interviewing Islamist Sheikh Hani Al-Seba’i for Lebanon-based pan-Arab news station Al Jadeed this past weekend to discuss reports of Christians joining Islamic groups such as ISIS in the Middle East, when the scholar went off on a tangent.

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