CIVIL SOCIETY NEWS
NGOs identify ways to end gender discrimination
By Nada Bakri - Special to The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Socially constructed roles often frustrate the potential of women, denying them their basic rights to employment, health care, education and legal protection from violence. The Arab NGO Network for Development, in association with the Canadian International Development Agency, the Lebanese Women Network, Oxfam Quebec, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Social Affairs Ministry, addressed the issue of discrimination against women in a conference held last week at Beirut's Crown Plaza Hotel.
Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad said: "Gender equity was mentioned in the Ministerial statement for the first time in the history of Lebanon and that alone is an achievement, although it has not yet been executed because the Cabinet is preoccupied with strengthening the security situation."
Mouawad urged the participants at the conference to come up with a series of clear recommendations and define their priorities so that they can begin eradicating discrimination against women.
Canadian Ambassador to Lebanon Louis de Lorimier said Lebanon cannot successfully reform its institutions unless women take part in implementing these reforms.
He also added that the seminar "highlights the crucial role of civil society actors as positive contributors to the role of governments because their expertise serves as a perfect complement to the role of state structures."
De Lorimier added that gender equality "constitutes a step in building poverty reduction strategies."
UNDP resident representative Mona Hamam said that gender inequality in Lebanon is a major concern, particularly because of the lack of women in decision-making roles and their weak participation in the economic sector.
But Hammam noted that gender bias in the fields of "health and education has become almost nonexistent in Lebanon and therefore there is significant potential for female participation in the economic sectors given the high educational attainment of Lebanese women."
Hammam added that the UNDP in Lebanon has tried to concentrate on mainstreaming gender considerations within existing programmes and projects. She said: "The UNDP has now launched a project aimed at strengthening the UNDP's gender mainstreaming capacities for gender sensitive planning and delivery of programmes that empower women and promote gender equality."
She finally urged the participants to set up "gender-working groups consisting of representatives from the government, civil society groups and the private sector to reflect gender priorities in government policies and link them to the different economic sectors."
Wadad Shakhtoura from the Lebanese Women Network said the international movement led by female activists has contributed during the last three decades to the launch of serious and daring proposals which have helped decrease discrimination against women in social and cultural sectors.
She added that these factors had led to the UN Millennium Declaration, which primarily focused on eradicating poverty through achieving social justice and enhancing gender equality.
