Lebanon

Citation:

Khatib, Lina. 2008. “Gender, Citizenship, and Political Agency in Lebanon.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 35 (3): 437–51.

Author: Lina Khatib

Abstract:

This paper examines the condition of women as political agents in Lebanon in the context of legislation and political participation. It focuses on the effect of the Civil War on women's conditions of living in Lebanon, and their lives in the post-war period. War had negative effects on women, reinforcing their patriarchal subjugation, furthering their economic deprivation, and diverting attention from issues like women's rights, which have only added to women's political and social marginalization. The war also had a positive effect on women as it opened up new avenues for them to participate in public life. This paper analyzes gender relations in Lebanon through the frameworks of social change and the rise of civil society, but also emphasizes the challenges facing women in post-war Lebanon, where they are still governed by patriarchal values that hinder their political participation and their identification as full citizens.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Citizenship, Civil Society, Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Women, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Political Participation, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 2008

Citation:

Hamber, Brandon, Paddy Hillyard, Amy Maguire, Monica McWilliams, Gillian Robinson, David Russel, and Margaret Ward. 2006. “Discourses in Transition: Re-Imagining Women's Security.” International Relations 20 (4): 487-502.

Authors: Brandon Hamber, Paddy Hillyard, Amy Maguire, Monica McWilliams, Gillian Robinson, David Russel, Margaret Ward

Abstract:

This article employs data gathered in Lebanon, Northern Ireland and South Africa as part of a project entitled ‘Re-Imagining Women's Security and Participation in Post-Conflict Societies’. It reflects on three different ‘imaginings’ of security–the state security discourse, the human security discourse and a gendered security approach–with the aim of showing that security discourses are currently undergoing a process of transition which parallels that taking place in post-conflict societies around the world. The article is particularly concerned to explore how a gendered security approach might empower women to re-imagine security in contextualised, bottom-up ways, and advocate social transformation within the broader processes of post-conflict transition. In order to consider women's demands for security policies and approaches in the twenty-first century, the article explores the direct testimony of women in three post-conflict societies, with specific reference to three key areas of security central to women's re-imaginings of the concept.

Keywords: feminist methodology, gendered security, human security, security dialogue, United Nations

Topics: Gender, Women, Post-Conflict, Security, Human Security Regions: Africa, MENA, Southern Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Lebanon, South Africa, United Kingdom

Year: 2006

Citation:

Sayigh, Rosemary. 2007. "Product and Producer of Palestinian History: Stereotypes of 'Self' in Camp Women's Life Stories." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 3 (1): 86-105.

Author: Rosemary Sayigh

Abstract:

This paper examines representations of “self” embodied in the life histories of women members of a Palestinian refugee camp community in Lebanon. Stereotypes of “self” are inherently ambivalent (Guttman 1988) as sites of both subjection and resistance. This ambivalence is strongly exemplified around the Palestinian refugee identity (to submit or to resist?); and again, though in different terms, for women members of refugee communities. (In camps, gender conservatism was multi-sourced, forming a link with Palestine, a boundary differentiating Palestinians from the “host” population, and resistance to coercive change.) The Palestinian resistance movement, like other twentieth-century anti-colonialist national movements, rigidified gender “tradition” as a key element of cultural nationalism, while political and economic mobilization gave women new scope for action and for “voice.” The life stories of women of Shatila camp, recorded soon after its destruction during the “Battle of the Camps” (1995–98), reveal “self” stereotypes that express historic continuity with Palestine as well as the specificity of Lebanon as diaspora region, characterized by PLO autonomy from 1970 to 1982, and high levels of violence against camp Palestinians in particular. Analysis of the “self” stereo types (and of their absence) points to a “collectivization” of personal narratives, as well as factors such as social status, age, educational level and degree of patriotism that differentiate the speakers in terms of presentation of the “self” and narrative coherence. Clear challenges to gender ideology are present in two of the life stories.

Keywords: refugee, refugee camp, gender relations, resistance movement

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Nationalism, Political Economies, Violence Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2007

Citation:

Makhoul, Jihad, and Mary Ghanem. 2009. "Displaced Arab Families: Mothers' Voices on Living and Coping in Postwar Beirut." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 5 (3): 54-73.

Authors: Jihad Makhoul, Mary Ghanem

Abstract:

This study explores the experiences and views of women and their families who have been affected by displacement due to the Lebanese civil war. Despite the popular notion that displaced families have returned home, the effects of displacement continue to be felt by families, especially the women. Findings from in-depth interviews with women currently residing in two suburbs of Beirut highlight the repercussions of postwar conditions of economic decline and inadequate social development policies on these families who continually move to new dwellings within the suburbs to escape unaffordable rent. These multiple moves to less satisfactory housing and neighborhoods are a consequence of poverty and have adverse social and psychological impacts on the lives of the women and their families. As social networks break up, family tensions mount and women’s ideals are left unrealized. Women cope with stressors by praying, smoking, and taking sedatives. Further research and policy-related implications are discussed.

Keywords: displacement, post-war reconstruction

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 2009

Citation:

Yabrouid, P., E. G. Karam, A. Chami, A. Karam, M. Majdalani, V. Zebouni, N. Melhem, C. Mansour, and S. Saliba. 1999. “Substance Use and Abuse: The Lebanese Female and the Lebanon Wars.” In Women and War in Lebanon, edited by Lamia Rustum Shehadeh, 282-319. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Authors: P. Yabrouid, E. G. Karam, A. Chami, A. Karam, M. Majdalani, V. Zebouni, N. Melhem, C. Mansour, S. Saliba

Keywords: mental health, substance abuse, female civilians

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, Trauma Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 1999

Citation:

Karam, Elie G. 1999. "Women and the Lebanon Wars: Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." In Women and War in Lebanon, edited by Lamia. R. Shehadeh, 272-281. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Author: Elie G. Karam

Keywords: posttic stress disorder

Topics: Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, PTSD Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 1999

Citation:

Farhood, Leila. 1999. "War Trauma and Women: Predisposition and Vulnerability to Adverse Psychological Health Outcomes." In Women and War in Lebanon, edited by Lamia R. Shehadeh, 259-71. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Author: Leila Farhood

Keywords: posttic stress disorder

Topics: Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 1999