Lebanese women seek greater participation in the country’s political life as high-ranking government officials are discussing the possibility of creating a quota for women in Lebanon’s parliament. Both the president and the prime minister of Lebanon have recently
broached the possibility of instituting a quota for women in parliament. Inaya Azzeddin, Lebanon’s State Minister for Administrative
Development and the only female member of the Lebanese cabinet, told
Sputnik that while the country’s constitution allows women
to participate in politics, it’s next to impossible for them to occupy
high-ranking government positions via ordinary means. “Most of the women who occupy high-ranking
offices usually managed to do so thanks to family connections. The
occasions when women were able to achieve such results thanks to their
personal qualities or were nominated by their parties are few and far
between; in fact, I was the first person who managed to do so. This
situation is a result of a number of factors, including public
stereotypes and backwardness,” she said.
According to Azzeddin, Lebanese women have proven themselves
in various vocations but at the same time lag behind the Arabian women
in other countries who have more opportunities in politics. “We now support instituting a quota for women
in the government as a temporary measure until a culture of women’s
political activity is created,” Azzeddin said. She also added that the prime minister, along with approximately a
third of the government, supports this initiative, and that the actual
size of this quota may soon be discussed in the parliament.
