The number of "Females" V/S the lack of "Female Leaders" in FPM

[X]

The title says it all, we have a big number of "Females" in FPM, but when it comes to the leadership and to representatives and to FPM candidates For the elections, we only see "men".

Why?

P.S. MP Gilbert Zouwein is not FPM.

[Red Phoenix]

X u are asking this question ?

i was thinking about asking u that since u'r a partisan.

[taifoon]

Maybe because FPM is a relatively new, still half-finished organization product, which is "made in Lebanon", a very much patriarchal society.

Also maybe because it didn't have any prominent female figures who played an active roll in the pre-party formation history. Almost the entire so called current leadership in FPM constitutes of men who, in different ways, were participants in resistance activities prior to the syrian's withdrawal.

But nshallah kheir, within ten years..

[X]

Originally Posted by Red Phoenix

X u are asking this question ?

i was thinking about asking u that since u'r a partisan.

I will post what i think later on, for now, i am interested in knowing what the female members in the Forum think, and why do they think that they are not part of the leadership and they (Females in FPM) don't have a single candidate for the elections.

[GMA forever]

It is either female FPMers are not getting a chance because of sexism in FPM (which I doubt) or the female FPMers are not interested in any higher position.

I guess it is the second one.

[kappa273]

it is not the fault of FPM...

this is a problem in the eastern society...

no other party in lebanon has a female in its leadership position.. even ladies MP in the lebanese parliament reached it due to "martyrs" or have a secondary role in their bloc/party/current

Solange Gemayel, Bahia Hariri and Nayla Mouawad are wives or sisters of martyrs and were elected because of the relationship rather than their accomplishments..

Sitrida Geagea, Ghenwa Jalloul, Gilberte Zwein are quasi-absent... unfortunately, being females prevents from any leadership positions in Lebanon..

i don't blame it on FPM, it is the whole society's mistake... don't forget that there are countries not very far from lebanon where females are more like commodities at home rather than a human entity...
it's a nice and progressive idea for FPM to be able to make a lady reach a leading position, but is the lebanese society ready for that?

kappa

[dodzi]

It's a good question. I guess it is up to a sociologist to answer it! All female members of parliament, ministers or politicians are either the sisters, daughters or the wives of assassinate (or - formerly - imprisoned) politicians. Without any exception!

For the same reasons it wasn't the case in Europe, half a century ago, we will not see, in 2009, a female politician make it on her own in Lebanon, whether as an elected official, or as a failed candidate!

May I remind you that in most European countries, women were not even allowed to vote before WWII? (1949 in Belgium) As for politicians, there were some local female politicians (on the communal ballot only)...

I believe we will see it evolve in three periods in Lebanon, just like it happened in most "Western countries":

1- a period of agenda-setting and socio-political activism: the first generation of female politicians will be those who will be considered as "feminists", who will be pushed to the top because of their ambitions for the role of women in political society. Their role will be to "normalize" the idea of female politicians, but only through their statute of "minority"

2- a period of quotas and social normalization: the second generation of women politicians will find their place in the political scene when institutional or socialized quotas will be implemented. Such quotas can oblige electoral lists to be composed of a minimum number of female candidates. The second generation of elected female politicians will be purely image-based. Their roles will be administrative and ceremonial (they won't be considered as major politicians, but as "background politicians", those who are there to complete the image, to accustom the people with female politicians

3- a period of emancipation: this final period is one where women are no longer considered as a "protected political minority". While the two first periods can be considered as emancipation, they are actually only a road towards it. Contrary to the first two periods, women in politics is no longer considered as a cause for which one must fight, and does no longer require laws to protect them. They can make it on their own, and do not represent their gender, but present broad national political programs


If you need examples of such politicians throughout history, I could give you some examples of female politicians for each period

0- Bahia Hariri, Nayla Tueni, Solange Gemayel, Sethrida Tok-Geagea (inheritors)
1- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (female activist)
2- Rachida Dati, Valérie Pécresse, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin (French government), Nayla Moawad (government), Elaine Chao (Bush administration)
3- Angela Merkel, Ségolène Royale, Margaret Tatcher (emancipated politicians)

[Dark Angel]

the concept of leadership in Lebanon is a very primitive and macho one, defined through muscles, confrontations and challenges, even if FPM as an entity is relatively more developed we are still not able to create a purely intellectual and ideological rapport with the bases. in this kind of environments women usually tend to remain in the second rows regardless of how active they truly are.

this issue however cannot be addressed before the general elections within the party, you may be surprised as to how many women could emerge as very refined and skilled leaders through that process.

there is also another issue, while you can easily bypass the looks, the age and the general appearances of a male leader, it is not something that can easily be done for women. if these four women, say the same thing and present the same set of ideas, who do you think will be the one that will emerge faster to leadership? now what if the grandma had the more rational approach? do you think she could stand a fair chance?

and i am being very serious here. it is acceptable for a man to slide a little bit in terms of appearance and presentability, but the masses are not forgiving at all with women, even other women.

now that said, it is essential for FPM to run for these elections with some women candidates. it doesnt make sense that we present a law for a women quota to the parliament and so far we are only discussing male figures on our lists. i think that in jbeil kesrwen and baabda we may be able afford running the elections with a female FPMer on each list.

it is not normal for a party with which females feel most at ease, given that FPM does not harbor nor does it tolerate thugs and so on, to not have that reflected in the number of female leaderships inside the party.

[General my General!]

Women have already proven that they are as capable as men to lead in various fields in our society (and in some cases more), be it law, business, education, medicine, social sciences and others. In some universities today women already outnumber the men. Part of this is due to the leading role women played in our communities since 1975, especially as the family care-taker.

But specifically in politics the absence of women is quite enormous.

While there are obviously some glass ceillings for women to break in Lebanon, I think the major reason why women are absent in political leadership is because Lebanon has yet to traverse the feudalistic inheritance of political power, which typically went from one male to the next, but also because of the primitive blood-rich nature of politics we've had in the past decades.

I do not think quotas are the way to go, at least not for this election. Candidates should be chosen for their qualities, not their gender. But FPM should definitely be active on this especially after the elections, as well as on many of the backward laws and practices related to Lebanese women.

We need to help the Lebanese woman help herself, big time.

Cheers!

[MockingBird]

Originally Posted by General my General!

Women have already proven that they are as capable as men to lead in various fields in our society (and in some cases more), be it law, business, education, medicine, social sciences and others. In some universities today women already outnumber the men. Part of this is due to the leading role women played in our communities since 1975, especially as the family care-taker.

But specifically in politics the absence of women is quite enormous.

While there are obviously some glass ceillings for women to break in Lebanon, I think the major reason why women are absent in political leadership is because Lebanon has yet to traverse the feudalistic inheritance of political power, which typically went from one male to the next, but also because of the primitive blood-rich nature of politics we've had in the past decades.

I do not think quotas are the way to go, at least not for this election. Candidates should be chosen for their qualities, not their gender. But FPM should definitely be active on this especially after the elections, as well as on many of the backward laws and practices related to Lebanese women.

We need to help the Lebanese woman help herself, big time.

Cheers!

this thread is a waste of time
this issue is controversial even in the most developped countries like freance or germany... our society have a long way to go before having female leaders... education and cultural reform is needed before anything can happen.