Most of the time, as soon as I mention that I am a feminist activist, I am immediately hit with a question: “Why? What’s wrong with the situation of women in Lebanon? What could a woman want? She has all her rights and more, she is treated with respect, with dignity. She controls her man, she is pampered and privileged.” Or people would tell me: “My sister is an engineer, my daughter graduated college, that woman manages a bank, etc.” . . .
Nadine Moawad is a feminist activist and writer in Beirut, Lebanon. Read her blog What If I Get Free? at <www.nadinemoawad.com/>. Follow Moawad at <twitter.com/#!/nmoawad>. Cf. “After the announcement of the new all-male Lebanese cabinet on Monday, journalists asked MP Michel Aoun — the main winner in PM Mikati’s new government formation — about the lack of female participation. He replied with: ‘We did not have any women candidates to nominate, but we welcome their opinions, my house is full of women, and I am very popular among the female population’; and: ‘You all know that women in Lebanon need more practice and experience in the public life so that she may become qualified for parliamentary and ministerial work'” (Nadine Moawad, “Situation of Women in Lebanese Politics Regresses,” What If I Get Free? 15 June 2011).
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