Position Paper Country Issue Committee : Lebanon : Women Empowerment : General Assembly SOCHUM

Causes Lebanese women first began to exercise their political rights in 1953, The proportions and types of such political participation varied in aspect and level. Then, as now, it was influenced by a set of social, religious, cultural, political and economic factors, leading to a wide gap between the provisions of the law on the one hand and actual practice on the other. Despite the indicators of positive progress achieve in the first year of this century, particularly in certain fields, the situation is still not as hoped. Basically, the Republic of Lebanon realized the importance of women empowerment in the parliament. Women empowerment is certainly needed in order to represent women. Not only to carry out womens problem, but also protect womens interest in every decision-making. Furthermore, women is needed because women can give a different perspective to solve the problems. Thus, Republic of Lebanon reaffirm its support to women empowerment in the parliament. Policies In its preamble and articles 7 to 12, the Lebanese Constitution provides for the full equality of all Lebanese in terms of rights and obligations, including full political rights and the right to hold public office. The foundation for womens political rights was laid in 1953 pursuant to Legislative Decree No.37 and with Lebanons accession, in 1955, to the convention on the Political Rights of Women 1952. Moreover, to show our commitment to fight the discrimination against women, we already ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ( CEDAW ). Solutions What we propose to do in order to support womens participation in the parliament is to make a quota for women. We believed that this is the best solution to empower women in the parliament because the system that we have today is undermining women hence, government should step in through this mechanism. We also realized that this mechanism can not go alone. It needs to be properly equipped with some other mechanisms. We also have to fight the legal illiteracy to inform all women about their rights and of the discriminations. It is important to encourage women to be more active politically, not only to be chosen as a leader but also to gain support from fellow women that needed to fight patriarchal dominations. This can be done through campaigns, or seminars. Furthermore, we also have to give financial assistance and equal publicity to women that needed in the electoral campaigns because women have less access for money and publication which needed to exercise political moves. We also have to put attention on the womens quality. Women also need to improve their intelligence, broadened their mind and also learn other skills that needed such as leading skill, public speaking even diplomacy.