An Advocate for Women of the Middle East — and Herself
Growing up in Beirut, Lebanon, Lina Abou-Habib regularly faced discrimination because of her gender and witnessed inequality for women, she said. 'People think of Lebanon as a contemporary, open country, but there are many laws that discriminate against women,' she said.
As an example, women who seek divorces, even if they are in abusive marriages, risk losing custody of their children. In Lebanon, family law is governed by religious courts, and often favors fathers in custody disputes. 'I've had more than one friend who is being physically abused by her husband but is too afraid to leave for fear of never seeing her children again,' Ms. Abou-Habib said.
She also pointed to Lebanon's nationality law. Ms. Abou-Habib, 62, the director of the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut, where she also teaches, has made it her life's mission to change the 1925 law, which states that children's citizenship is based on the nationality of their father, even if their mother is Lebanese.
That means if a Lebanese woman marries a man from another country, their children are not considered Lebanese citizens, and must apply for legal residency. 'They will forever be viewed as aliens in the country of their mothers,' Ms. Abou-Habib said. 'They don't have the right to attend public schools, take a government job or vote.'
Ms. Abou-Habib has lived through the experience firsthand. Her husband is from a neighboring Arab country, and their Beirut-born daughter will never legally be a Lebanese citizen.
The Asfari Institute researches social justice movements in the region, including in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco, and connects activists with academia to collaborate on social change. It also regularly partners with U.N. Women on research projects.
For International Women's Day, the group planned to host a global conference at the university for women in the medical field, with the aim of motivating and helping young women to join the profession.
The following interview with Ms. Abou-Habib was conducted by phone and has been edited and condensed.
What are the biggest challenges of being a woman today in Lebanon and the Arab region?
Vulnerability to violence and sexual abuse. You can be sexually harassed at work, on the streets and at home. Yet, it's accepted, and women and girls are blamed if they are harassed or even raped. The absence of being able to take any legal recourse encourages the abuse.
What would you like to see change for women in the Arab region? Do you have specific goals?
I want to change the way societies in Arab countries view women. I want to see laws that uphold the dignity of women, particularly when it comes to marriage, divorce and being able to decide if they want to have children or not. They should also be free to choose what they want to wear.
How can these changes happen? What actions need to be taken?
They can only happen if the laws change, but people's mind-sets must also change, and the school curriculum needs to change. Right now, school textbooks in many Arab countries portray women in traditional roles of being housewives and in the kitchen. If textbooks show women in professional roles, such as doctors and scientists, the perception of women will change.
How has being public about your mission to reform nationality laws helped your cause?
I started speaking out in 2000 about nationality laws.
I organized a public demonstration in Beirut with sister feminist activists and women suffering from this injustice. We had local, regional and international media cover the demonstration. After that, the nationality law became a global issue. Future demonstrations were bigger and amplified our voices. The media interviewed us and embarrassed the politicians who upheld these laws. The media interviewed them as well and held them accountable for preventing women from having equal rights.
Gender inequality is strengthened by fear, taboos and a culture that blames the victims. The only way to break this is to go public and turn a personal injustice into a cause.
What policies have you helped accomplish so far to help women, and how have these policies made an impact?
This work has resulted in easing policies related to providing residency permits to children of Lebanese mothers who are married to non-Lebanese men. This has been critical to ensure that children of Lebanese women can safely and legally stay in Lebanon. In 2010, we had a minister of interior and municipalities, Ziyad Baroud, who issued a directive where non-Lebanese spouses and children of Lebanese women could get nonconditional residency permits in Lebanon.
After we started the campaign, many countries in the region, including Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, changed their laws in our favor.
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