Women in Lebanon are protesting on the streets to force the government to take violence seriously by enforcing laws that will protect women from their harmful spouses.
A founder of the feminist collective, Nasawiya, Nadine Mouwad, said that the look of women in Beirut can give the impression that Lebanon is highly liberated from the chief cultural takes as opposed to other close countries. However this is not true. She said "The problem is that we are sold a lot of fake freedoms that raise Lebanese women under the impression that they have freedom to go anywhere, freedom to dress the way they want to."
Nadine Mouwad, as well as many other feminists, are protesting and trying to force the government to ignore the objections of important, religious, people in Muslim, for the past year and a half. They want a law to be passes that will protect women from domestic violence.
There was a draft made of the Law to Protect Women from Family. It was passed by the Cabinet in Lebanon, in 2010. However, lately, it has been chaotic, due to opposing views from the Sunni and Shia groups. The first version of this bill was made to show the harmfulness of physical and sexual abuse, marital rape, and other domestic violence. It should have provided the framework, legally, for restraining orders to be given to people causing the violence.
Unfortunately, the religious courts in Lebanon, judicial authorities in charge of the countries faithful communities, with control of matters of "personal status", have opposed this law because they think it is an attempt to corrupt the authority.
Lebanon's top Sunni authority , Dar al-Fatwa, and the Higher Shi'a Islamic Council are against the draft. They oppose the law saying that the Sharia law should protect women.
Many cases relating to violence are commonly heard in religious courts. They often result with rulings that will keep the family together with unity, rather than actually protecting women.
Lebanese lawyer, Amer Badreddine, said that "It's a response that abused women are usually met with from police as well. They are told to solve the problem amicably, to keep it a family issue and not cause embarrassment to themselves by bringing it to the police." She specializes in domestic violence cases. He also said that the law didn't recognize rape during marriage as a crime. This is a position that some judges in Muslim argue over.
A judge in the Sunni religious court, Sheik Ahmad Al-Kurdi, said "Criminalizing rape during marriage could lead to the imprisonment of the man, where in reality, he is exercising the least of his marital rights."
Since women have little protection from important figures, Lebanese women in bad relationships must also have to deal with the disapproval of their families if they decide to escape the issue.
One mother of the three kids told CNN that her husband beat her, shortly after she had become pregnant. After the child was born, her husband broke the wife's nose. She wanted to divorce him, but her parents said that she would have to give up the child if she wanted to leave.
The wife returned to her abusive husband where the beating continued. Her husband forced himself onto her. She said "He used to make me pregnant, thinking that as long as I was having kids he would make me stay." The wife thought that her husband would kill her, but later the women received help from a Kafa (an NGO tackling violence and abuse towards women and kids), the women was allowed to leave the relationship and keep her husband.
This happy ending is not likely for women in Lebanon. Her organization heard of many cases in which the women was killed by her spouse. Mouwad said that the draft of the law had been lowered with to many objection by religious officials, that there was no point in going through with it. She said, "If it passes the way it is, it's going to be disastrous and counterproductive."
Analysis: The authors of this article, Arwa Damon and Tim Hume, wrote this article to tell us what has been happening in Lebanon in relation to women and how they are treated. There was bias because the authors were all on the side of the women, but it was for good reason. I don't see how someone could not be on their side. The main idea is that women want a law to be passed that will protect them from abusive partners. However, this law is being objected by many religious officials.
I think that this law needs to be passed. I can't believe how women are treated in Lebanon. It just isn't right. I remember learning that women and men weren't always equal in the U.S., but that was so long ago. For that to happening now is crazy. Women shouldn't have to suffer for any reason. These men need to treat women right. I just hope that this law is passed soon because we shouldn't need to see other women die for us to get the law approved.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/17/world/meast/lebanon-womens-rights-law/index.html?hpt=imi_c1
I agree, because if that law is passed then someone might actually benefit from it because they're allowed to keep their children as that woman did.
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