Equal Rights for Lebanese Women

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Equal Rights for Lebanese Women

Throughout history, women have been dominated by men, and were not given their human rights, simply because they were women. Nevertheless, starting the eighteenth century, some women started showing their dissatisfaction with their unfair conditions. They came to realize that since they were human beings, then they must have equal rights as men. In this paper, I intend to show the historical back ground of the earliest women’s movements in the world, and to state the major achievement of these movements. Finally, I would like to throw some light on the changes in the status of women in Lebanon.

Women have not been sleeping when it came to their rights. However, women have not been able to anything about their rights for several reasons. For example, the role of women was to take care of the home while the husband was winning bread for the family. In addition to this, very few women could read and write, and therefore, they did not have the means to express themselves, or to start organized actions. With the rise of equality of all men and democracy by the end of the eighteenth century, the cause of women started, particularly in the year 1792 when the first feminist publication was written by Mary Wollestonecraft, a British woman who was devoted to the cause of liberating women from their chains. The famous publication was known as the vindication of the rights of women. According to this publication which is the first organized step towards women’s liberation, the aim of women’s movements would be to eliminate the sexual discrimination against women on the political, economic and social level, so that women would have equal rights to men (Grolier, 1).

“Grolier Electronic Publishing” shows that the first problem women faced was suffrage. While men were able to vote and to participate in the political life, women were not. Therefore, the efforts were united and aimed at winning the right to vote. Consequently, in 1903, the women social and political union (WSPU) was established with its main goal as winning the right of suffrage for women. The Union was under the leadership of Emmiline Panhurst who was able to lead her fellow women in Britain in demonstrations that protested against the inequality of men. The British Public opinion was divided and many women were arrested and send to jail for their participation in...

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...rticipate in very few of these activities if they do at all, and the woman is left to finish them all without regard to her need for rest (Tax, 230). In conclusion, the history of the women’s movements is a strong example on the struggle of women for centuries in their attempts to attain their freedom, humanity and equality. The struggle has not yet come to an end, and the road to success is still very long and full of challenge. Nevertheless, women will always have the hope and faith in what they are doing, because they know it is right. After all, human equality is the most basic right of all human beings, males and females.

Bibliography

Densemore, Dana. “On The Temptation to Be a Beautiful Object.” In Salper, Roberta ed. Female Liberation. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1972.

Giele, Janet Z. “Women’s Movements.” Collier’s Encyclopedia. 1992. Vol. 23.: 388-90.

Samara, Maha. “Lebanese Women Witness to War.” Al-Raida, November 1, 1987, vol. 8.: 9-11.

Tax, Meredith. “Woman & Her Mind: The Story of Daily Life.” In Salper, Roberta ed. Female Liberation. New York: Alfred knof, 1972.

----------. “Women’s Rights Movements.” Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995: 1-2.

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