When a Fulla Doll, the Muslim version of a Barbie, launches a campaign for the general elections to highlight the poor conditions of women’s rights in Lebanon, it is clear that something is wrong.

Fulla has yet to announce her platform, according to Jamal Aridi who is behind her candidacy, but Fulla’s “campaign” was prompted by a desire to raise awareness about the lack of female representation in the public arena, as well as other pressing domestic issues.

While women in Lebanon generally enjoy more rights than their sisters in the region, they are still underrepresented politically and the subject of discriminatory laws. On the occasion of International Women’s Day on Sunday, NOW Lebanon asks prominent activists how they see the situation for the country’s female population.

One issue: gender inequality

“There is no ‘most’ important issue,” for women on International Women’s Day, says Rebecca Saadeof Lebanon’s Feminist Collective, “There is one issue: Gender inequality and how we don’t realize that we are not equal.”

The Feminist Collective took to the streets across Beirut this weekend to talk to women of all backgrounds about gender equality and ask their perspective on gender issues and what they want to see happen.

“Most women just never noticed [discrimination] or are just used to it. We are harassed by men just because we dress in a certain way, but we blame ourselves for what other people do,” she laments, adding that many women try to protect themselves by keeping men around in public places.

“We should put the blame on the person who is to blame,” Saadesays.

“Lebanese society is very much tired of inequality and discrimination, but no one is taking the initiative” to improve the situation, she notes.

The group hopes to use the International Women’s Day as an opportunity to put the issue back on the table.

Legal discrimination

“This is an occasion to say there are many discriminatory laws facing Lebanese women,” says Line Osseiran Beydoun, who works with the women’s section of the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights in Lebanon.

In additional to legal inequality, she says, there are “inherited cultural, traditional and social norms that impede any improvement” in the situation of women, which have led to fragrant inequality in terms of the presence of women in the public sphere.

While women do work in large numbers in some sectors with a high degree of efficiency, thanks to their high levels of education and opportunities to enroll in both private and public universities, “there is a big gap between the law and they way people live,” Beydoun notes.

Lebanese women are taking on responsibilities, working in diverse sectors, driving, and generally “living their life, but when it comes to any legal problem they are lagging behind.”

While Lebanon’s constitution stipulates equality, and the state signed the 1996 UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beydoun insists Lebanese laws continue to discriminate against the female population, particularly relating to personal and family matters.

Women are unable to pass on their nationality to their husbands or children and face discrimination in matters of marriage, inheritance, and even under labor laws.

While family law falls under the jurisdiction of differing religious courts, women of every confession face difficulties maintaining custody of their children after a divorce, Beydoun says, and are threatened with loosing access altogether if they decide to remarry.

The tide may be turning slowly, however, with a conference scheduled for this Tuesday, sponsored by the Interior Ministry, focusing on the discriminatory aspects of the nationality law.

Beydoun, however, hopes women take more direct action to end discrimination themselves. “Women’s NGOs are not aggressive enough,” she says, “They should become more aggressive, like in Algeria and Morocco, where they were successful.”

Political participation?

“Women are taking part in all duties, they are paying the price of political and social problems… why shouldn’t they share in making decisions to redress the situation?” asks Marie Rose Zalzal, a lawyer and women’s rights activist.

While acknowledging that women have made considerable individual progress, she says this is not reflected on the national or political levels.

“Women’s participation [in politics] is not yet considered a right, a tool for development and a plus for political life,” Zalzal says. This hampers Lebanese democracy, as there is less diversity in public life and fewer opportunities for people to achieve their rights.

“I don’t feel that now we are living in a democratic country,” Zalzal says, because of the lack of female representation.

Though civil society organizations lobbied hard to institute a quota guaranteeing a certain number of female representatives in parliament in the electoral law, to their disappointment, the motion was not included in the law passed in September 2008.

Zalzal believes women are being kept away from the political sphere because “macho” politicians are concerned about limiting competition for power. “When they eliminate women, they eliminate the number of people who are going to be competitors,” she says.

But Lebanon suffers as a result, women’s rights activists insist, as female representatives would be more interested and effective in promoting sound policies rather than narrow, interest-based political power plays.

International Women’s Day is also being used to by activists to highlight the situation of female migrant domestic workers, with a sit-in staged in Hamra Street on Sunday afternoon.

A collection of NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, and concerned individuals are protesting to demand authorities and employers ensure that wages for migrant workers are paid on time, that they receive a day off every week, and that they are provided with decent working conditions, free from exploitation and abuse.