Imad Abou Akar :Time to wake up

Time to Wake UP Jostein Gaarder said, “A state that does not educate and train women is like a man who only trains his right arm.” Anyone who does not live in Lebanon will think that women are treated fairly in this country. It is true that the Lebanese women have successfully gained more rights and moved steps towards emancipation, but they are still unfairly treated, suffering from problems of inequality with men; domestic violence and other gender discrimination issues. In 1953,the Lebanese women obtained their most important citizenship rights which are voting and participating in national elections. This allows them to participate in the presidential and parliamentary elections they want ;therefore, they will be able to express their points of view and not to feel countless. Before 1960, the Lebanese women had to lose their Lebanese citizenship in case they desire to marry foreigners. After that date, the law granted the Lebanese women the right to choose their nationality after marriage. In addition, this was followed, in the year 1974 with the right of women to travel without the need of a consent from their husbands. The year 2000 was an unforgettable year for Lebanese women concerning labor law. Major implementations in the labor law made the female employees equal in the rights and responsibilities with male employees and discrimination between genders has been eliminated. Above all, they protected the female worker to practice her natural rights as a mother. As a result, they extended the maternity leave right to the mother worker to become ten weeks. In the following year, more rights have been issued ; female employees started to benefit from the system of retirement and pension. Regarding the concept of equality between men and women, they declared the right of Lebanese women to benefit from educational grant bestowed to her by the government. Nowadays ,in 2014, Lebanese women continue demonstrating and using all the democratic ways to get all their rights. However, women still suffer from inequality concerning personal status. They are threatened by divorce, children’s custody and domestic violence. The nationality law still also forbids the Lebanese mother marriage to foreigners and the transfer of woman's nationality to her children. Moreover, working women do not profit from social security benefits and family compensation like men. In conclusion, the Lebanese government is asked to go for more equality and for a better treatment of women. This can result in more economic growth and social security as women are also creative and ambitious like men. While world is going toward globalization, we can’t continue arguing issues of discrimination between genders instead of moving ahead .