:: The Lebanese Council of Women at a glance ::
The Lebanese Council of Women at a glance
The Lebanese Council for Women (LCW) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1952 and instituted under Lebanese authorization license number 3753 – 6/11/1953
Since its inception LCW has stood for two constant basic believes
- A unified, sovereign, and independent Lebanon
- A Lebanon where all citizens -men and women- have equal rights and opportunities
LCW is an umbrella organization that groups today about 170 NGOs spread geographically over the six Lebanese districts; Beirut, Bekaa, Nabatyeh, Mount Lebanon, North Lebanon, and South Lebanon. They embody Lebanon 's religious, sectarian, and ethnic diversity.
LCW has a simple structure based on electoral representation.
The General Assembly groups the elected presidents of the member organizations. They elect every four years an Administrative Committee who appoints an Advisory Board
Who is the Lebanese Council for Women and what do they do?
Our roots
Many prominent early Lebanese activists for women's rights and social reformers became involved in a number of social and moral reform campaigns in the early 20th century. This led most directly to the organized campaign for ensuring women their voting and employment rights.
In 1952 a number of Lebanese feminists and leaders of the campaign for women's rights met and agreed to unify their efforts in an association. The aim: to lead and give direction to the Lebanese feminist movement.
They formed the Assembly of Lebanese Women's Associations (later known as The Lebanese Council of Women) by merging the Lebanese Arab Women's Union (instituted in 1929) and the Lebanese Women's Association (instituted in 1947).
Their first victory was the adoption in 1953 of a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote and get elected. This was the culmination of many decades of activism and struggle by women's rights organizations and their allies.
And this was the beginning of over fifty years of struggle to establish the same social, economic, and political status for women as for men, and to guarantee that women will not face discrimination on the basis of their sex.
Our purpose
The purpose of LCW is not to be just another NGO. Its role is to provide direction and vision to the activities of its member organizations by coordinating their efforts and mobilizing their potential towards the common goal of serving women's rights.
Scope of Activities of the organizations member of LCW
Human rights, Women's legal rights, Awareness, Working women, Education, Social services, Medical services, Culture and arts
Our priorities and objectives for the period 2004 – 2008
- Good Governance and optimization of resources
One of our main priorities is to capitalize on our potential by improving the synergy and networking between our member organizations in order to reach a better coordination of efforts.
Our objective from this is a coordination of resources that would enable us to provide the necessary support for the grass root initiatives of our member organizations that include a wide range of activities including social, medical, educational, and ecological services and awareness programs.
In parallel, an effective and flexible networking is the key to reaching the largest number of women in all Lebanese regions whenever there is the need to mobilize our resources in order to promote any of our undertakings on a national level.
- Gender equality and equity through the rule of law
Out of our belief that the rule of law is one of the pillars of building an equitable and fair society, one of our constant priorities has always been the amendment of the laws that discriminate against women. Despite many achievements a lot remains.
One of our objectives is to modernize the laws in the Lebanese penal code that deal with all forms of violence against women. Many of these laws are archaic and do not correspond anymore to the Lebanese societal values.
Among these are the legislations on the violation of sexual integrity and other relevant regulations and measures, and those related to the prevention of violence against women.
Another objective related to the modernization of laws is to amend the civil and constitutional laws that deny women their full national identities and exclude them from the rights, privileges, and security of citizenship. Under these laws women are not recognized as equal citizens. The Lebanese nationality law is the most controversial in this instance.
- Women's participation in the political making process
Modernizing existing laws is not enough. Another objective we are seeking is to call for the ratification of laws that promote a more active participation of women in political life. Women ought to be considered as a minority whose rights need to be protected by a system of proportional representation in administrative and elected bodies the same as other Lebanese minorities.
- The active participation of women in economic life and development
Out of our belief that sustainable development cannot be achieved without the active participation of women in economic life, one of our priorities is to continue providing women with the possibilities of vocational and professional training and encouraging the creation of micro projects where women can exercise their entrepreneurship potential.
This is being carried out by our member organizations who can better evaluate the needs of each region and or social group they are active within. Our role is to advise, coordinate and help to raise the necessary resources for such projects.
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