Equal before the law… but in practice?
As Lebanon increasingly suffers from a plethora of crises, its population drowns further in a sea of financial burdens. Consequently, fundamental human rights — namely access to sanitary water, food, healthcare, education and a job that secures basic standards of living — are robbed by an inefficient state, unable and unwilling to rescue its drowning ship. Even worse, individuals face disproportionate impacts on the basis of several factors, such as race, citizenship status, socio-economic background, and gender — the focus of this piece.
According to article 7 of the Lebanese constitution, "all Lebanese are equal before the law." However, reality is far from it, as women and girls are constantly subject to laws, customs and norms that render them unequal to men. Moreover, non-Lebanese populations, such as Syrian and Palestinian refugees, alongside migrant workers from an array of regions across the world, suffer from discriminatory treatment and laws, which set them far back in the pursuit of basic rights. Thus, an intersectional approach affirms that women and girls who are already inferiorized on the basis of their race and/or nationality bear the greater brunt.
Furthermore, due to poverty, a lack of awareness and the robustness of gender norms, crippled by legally-enshrined inequalities, a lot of under-aged girls end up marrying, commonly by force. In fact, a UN study shows that 29% of displaced Syrian girls in Lebanon, aged fifteen to nineteen, had been married by 2018. And, the succeeding COVID pandemic and ongoing economic crisis have certainly not helped. More often than not, these girls end up juggling unhealthy physical circumstances with immense psychological trauma. Even worse, divorce appears almost impossible. The Human Rights Watch posits that all of Lebanon's fifteen personal status laws facilitate men's request of divorce. However, they legally and systematically discriminate against women — not to mention the great financial and social costs they pay in patriarchal societies, such as social shaming. Subsequently, women in abusive marriages, in which their lives and those of their children are at risk, find themselves unable to pursue an alternative reality.
Moreover, based on the literature, the longer girls stay in school, the less likely they are to marry at a younger age. As a matter of fact, multiple family and community members have confirmed this strategy as being the most effective for the prevention of child marriage.
At 26 Letters, we acknowledge the gendered inequalities and discriminatory policies that our students and their families unfortunately suffer from. For that reason, our educational curricula and books are formulated around democratic values like equality, inclusivity and representation of individuals in all their diversity, which directly impacts the way in which our students perceive themselves. For example, to counter the patriarchal narrative of girls' primary goal being to become housewives, we make our students well aware of their skills and talents, and how they may emancipate themselves through their potential.
Further, we have dedicated a department of our school to the provision of practical and vocational education for the mothers that are part of our family. Our Mom's School empowers mothers with knowledge surrounding their basic rights. We equally provide them with the practical support and means needed to have access to their rights and basic services within institutions that stand against them.
One of our primary objectives has been to provide period products for every woman and girl at 26 Letters in order to prevent placing their health and hygiene at risk. To reach our goal, we have collaborated with Wing Woman Lebanon — a charity working towards the development of socio-economic conditions of women from vulnerable communities in Lebanon. Each of their period kits costs around $20 and is a sustainable solution to period poverty. It includes eight reusable pads, a bar of soap and a pouch. Please help us achieve our goal by donating in the go fund me page linked here.
