If French poet Louis Aragon was right about women being the future of men, Lebanon’s future still looks uncertain. Lebanese women have been increasingly making their presence felt in most fields, but they remain far being man’s equal, especially in politics. Until now, this arena had been reserved for men – or at least for women who have inherited leadership from men, whether their fathers, husbands or brother. The idea of candidate quotas for women was not included in the new electoral law, each party passing the buck to the other. However, a significant number of women are running in the May 6 legislative elections. They are thus breaking a taboo in this field and showing their willingness to fight, even though the campaigns against women are more vicious than those against men, as they are more personal. There are 111 women candidates out of a total of 976. A first that could give the impression that Lebanese society is ready to accept women as men’s partners in politics.
However, appearances can be deceiving. On the one hand, Lebanese women benefited this year from a boost from the international community and local NGOs to run in elections. On the other, a high number of women candidates will not necessarily translate into an increased number of women MPs in the new Parliament. The new electoral law is based on a mix of proportional representation a preferential voting mechanism, which puts women at a disadvantage, being put on party lists only to be sacrificed later on the altar of the new system. Political parties want to modernize their image for local public opinion and international bodies by including (partially) women on their lists, while at the same time granting their preferential votes to their strong candidates, i.e. men. They will then claim that they have done their best, but the electorate was not ready. For its part, civil society is not strong enough to impose women figures.
For women, the road to the Lebanese political arena is still paved with bad intentions.