Lebanese Women's Council

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LEBANESE WOMEN'S COUNCIL

association of lebanese women's and human rights organizations.

The Lebanese Women's Council (LWC), or Lebanese Council of Women, is an umbrella association encompassing over 140 women's and human rights organizations, including welfare, religious, academic, political, and feminist organizations. It has been a key advocate for women's rights in Lebanon since its establishment in 1952 by Lebanese feminists Ibtihaj Qaddurah and Laure Moghaizel. At its inception, the LWC focused on furthering political rights for Lebanese women and on encouraging women to run for public office.

Today the goals of the LWC have broadened to include supporting women's rights in education, health, and employment. The organization also advocates for women's legal rights (for example, the right of women to pass citizenship to their children). In addition, it continues to work to support women political candidates; in 2003 there were only three women in the Lebanese parliament.

The LWC participates in numerous local and international coalitions. Most notably, it took part in the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing as well as in Beijing +5, the five-year assessment of the Beijing Conference, held during a special session of the UN General Assembly in New York City in 2000. The LWC was one of the drafters of the subsequent report of the NonGovernmental Committee for the Follow-Up of Woman Issues. It also was instrumental in attaining Lebanon's ratification (with reservations) of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1996. CEDAW is a human-rights treaty focused on women's rights that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979. As one of the major women's rights organizations in Lebanon, The LWC continues to work toward the institutional and legal implementation of CEDAW.

see also gender: gender and law; gender: gender and politics; lebanese civil war (1958); lebanese civil war (19751990); lebanon; moghaizel, laure.


Bibliography


AbuKhalil, As'ad. "Feminism." In Historical Dictionary of Lebanon. London, U.K., and Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1998.

Joseph and Laure Moghaizel Foundation. Available from <http://www.kleudge.com/moghaizelfoundation>.

Lebanese NGO Forum. Available from <http://www.lnf.org.lb>.

lara z. deeb

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