By Daniella Razzouk | Staff Writer

Women’s rights in Lebanon have always been a mixed bag. According to the UN women, “Lebanon enjoys one of the most vibrant feminist movements in the Arab region.” Lebanese women were given the right to vote in 1952 and since then, there have been many advancements such as the passing of the “Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women” in 1997[3]. On the other hand, Lebanon is still considered as having one of the biggest gender gaps in the world and, according to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap report, ranks 145th out of 153 countries worldwide. 

This gap between men and women shows clearly in the Lebanese workforce. According to UN Women [3], 76% of men participate in the workforce as compared to only 29% of women – this number is expected to drop by 14-19% due to the economic crisis. This disparity in Lebanon’s workforce is found in other Arab countries as well, with female participation in the workforce hovering around 15% in Jordan, 13% in Iraq, and 6% in Yemen [4]. These statistics may not be surprising, but when you take a step back and look at the facts, you’ll notice that the reality should be the opposite. Women in the Arab world are more likely to pursue a university degree compared to Arab men [5]. This trend is echoed in Lebanon as well where women make up 66% of LU students, 51% of AUB students, and 63% of USJ students [1]. 

Many tend to blame the gap on the customs of Arab society. These customs may include, for instance, husbands that ban their wives from working. However, a study by the World Bank in 2018 shows a much more complex reality. While societal pressures do play a role, home responsibilities and discriminations from institutes have a significant toll on a woman’s decision on whether or not to join the workforce. For example, even if both the husband and the wife are working full-time jobs, the wife will still be expected to take care of the children, cook the meals and clean the house. In addition, women will likely deal with more barriers of entry to the workforce. According to the World Bank’s report, women will struggle more to get a job in which they will make less money and face discrimination. This discrimination takes many forms in the workplace: sexual harassment, leave discrimination, restricted access to maternity benefits, etc. These challenges, when mixed with the overload of responsibilities women have at home, lead to many women deciding that joining the workforce simply isn’t worth it.  

It is important to recognize these challenges for what they are: institutional sexism. When the gender gap is blamed on customs or Arab society in general, people become complacent and believe that the reality cannot be changed. However, if we take a step back and look at our problems, they suddenly become much more manageable. Other countries have faced these problems and were able to solve them, increasing their equality rate, and Lebanon is capable of doing the same. The only way that we can move forward as a society is by recognizing what is causing our problems and taking practical steps to solve them.