Lebanon in the United Nations: The Commission for the Study of the Status of Women

The Lebanese Women's League has received from one of its members, Mrs. Eva Badr Malik, wife of the Honorable Minister Plenipotentiary of Lebanon in Washington, the complete text of the report submitted by the "Commission for the Study of the Status of Women" to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Organization, together with a commentary upon it from her pen.

The Woman's Voice has seen fit to begin by publishing the commentary, to be followed, in the next issue, by the publication of this report, which is counted a historic document that every lady would do well to read and ponder.

Lebanon's voice has become heard and respected among the United Nations thanks to the efforts of its representatives in San Francisco, London, and New York. Lebanon has been appointed to the council that is to study economic and social affairs, which is holding its meetings now in New York beginning May 25; Lebanon is represented on it by the Honorable Dr. Charles Malik, Lebanon's Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington, accompanied by Mr. George Hakim.

From this council branch several committees and subcommittees, which study various problems, draw up their reports on them, and then submit them to this council for its approval and ratification. Most of these committees held their meetings during the past weeks in preparation for the council's sessions. Among the committees attached to the council is "the Committee for the Study of Human Rights," and attached to this latter committee is a subcommittee for the study of the status of woman. It was a great pride for Lebanon, and for the women of Lebanon especially, that Lebanon was appointed, along with certain other states, to this committee for the study of the status of woman; and Miss Angela Jurdak was elected, on the basis of her personal excellence and competence, to represent Lebanon as a member of the committee. She played her part most admirably and gave proof of an ability and an intelligence that won the respect and confidence of the committee's members, who elected her secretary of the committee and recorder of the minutes of its sessions; and it is she who composed the final report that will be submitted to the council, through the "Human Rights" committee, for approval. All this was a great honor that raised Lebanon's name and drew eyes toward it; our women may rightly take pride in it and praise Miss Jurdak's efforts. And here we now hasten to send this committee's report to the Lebanese Women's League, to be published in The Woman's Voice before it is laid before the "Economic and Social Council," so that our awakening ladies may examine it and keep abreast of the course of these world events. We shall bring them news of all the developments of this important international women's movement and of what the Economic and Social Council will decide concerning the report, for we know that the Lebanese woman is fully prepared for international women's cooperation — and because she is, as we have declared repeatedly, well acquainted with all the problems and dangers that threaten woman's very being, and eager to do her national duty in raising the standing of woman in our country and in joining with the women of the world in raising the social level generally and in preserving peace.

Miss Jurdak was absent from her post at the Legation in Washington for three weeks to take part in the work of the "Women's Committee," which held its official meetings at Hunter College in New York City from April 29 to May 13 under the chairmanship of Mrs. Bodil Begtrup, the representative of Denmark.

Two days ago Miss Jurdak returned to Washington carrying the reports and the news of international women's efforts and of Lebanon's role in those historic meetings. We had lunch together at the Legation, and I sat drawing that news from her eagerly, so as to convey it as quickly as possible to our gracious ladies, full of admiration for her success and for how well she has represented us.

Miss Jurdak said that the members of this committee numbered no more than seven, and that they had resolved to enlarge the committee and to invite other states to the coming meetings, in order to obtain broader points of view on the question of woman. As for the members whom the Secretariat of the United Nations selected for this first meeting, they are — besides Miss Jurdak — Mrs. Bodil Begtrup of Denmark, president of the Danish Women's Union; she is also her government's official delegate for the supervision of Danish films in her country, and was one of the delegates from her government to the meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations in London. The members elected her chairman of this

committee for the study of women's affairs. Among the members is Mrs. Hansa Mehta, the delegate of India, who is also president of the union of Indian women at large and a member of the supreme council of the University of Bombay; Miss Jurdak admired her intelligence, and Mrs. Mehta told her that she had recently met the delegation of our ladies in India. Mrs. New, the delegate of China, is one of the learned members and holds the post of official adviser on women's education in her country. Among the members who contributed much to the deliberations, and who debated with Miss Jurdak in one of the sessions on the subject of women's rights in marriage, is Mrs. Hélène Marie Lefaucheux, the delegate of France, an able lady, a member of the French Parliament, and one of France's delegates to the meeting of the United Nations council in London. Among the members is Miss Fryderyka Kalinowska of Poland, attached to the Polish Legation in Washington as a press correspondent. And among the outstanding members — the members of the committee elected her vice-chairman — is Miss Minerva Bernardino of the Dominican Republic, president of the women's union of all the women of the South American states, in Washington, the Pan American Women's Union; she was her government's official delegate to the United Nations meetings in San Francisco and in London. Miss Jurdak said that the finest thing in those meetings was the spirit of harmony and concord among the committee's members: "We argued and we deliberated, and then we came to an understanding, as ladies — how could it be otherwise, when our aim is one, and it is the aim of all the women of the world? Every one of us sincerely wants the betterment of woman's condition, and every one of us believes in her positive, effective capacities for consolidating peace in the world, provided she is loosed from all her fetters and granted her freedom and her rights as a human being."

Among those who regularly attended the meetings of this committee were Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Roosevelt and chairman of the "Human Rights" committee; Mr. Bokche the Yugoslav; and Professor Cassin the Frenchman, both of them members of Mrs. Roosevelt's committee.

As for Mrs. Roosevelt, she took the members of the two committees to her private house, where they spent the greater part of a whole day. This house of hers is not far from the house of her late husband — where he was born and lived, and where he is buried — the house which she presented in the middle of last April to the American government, to remain a historic monument, a place of pilgrimage for all Americans, and a site for strangers to visit. The members of the committee visited this house, carrying three wreaths to lay upon the tomb of President Roosevelt; and Miss Jurdak had the honor of laying one of them, in her capacity as secretary, together with the chairman and the vice-chairman of the committee.

As for the ball, it was astonishing and sumptuous, and the thing that most catches every woman's eye there is the beautiful evening gowns, supremely elegant and costly, worn by the wealthy American ladies. The party was given by the city of New York, under the patronage of its Mayor, at the Hotel Waldorf Astoria, the most luxurious hotel in the world.

I asked Miss Jurdak, after we had talked for an hour and after she had recounted all her experiences to me at length, "And now, what, in your opinion, is the message we must deliver to the women of Lebanon?" She said at once: "Union — strong union among their ranks, so that they may persuade our government, in the first place, of the necessity of putting into effect all these rights we have discussed, winning its sympathy and its support; and so that, in consequence, Lebanon's voice may remain heard in the international women's field." I shook her hand and said, "This is what I have dreamed of, and what many women in Lebanon have dreamed of. The Women's Union in Beirut must rise to its true station and devote itself to unifying women's efforts, leaving aside every other undertaking and every secondary local quarrel; for this is a great opportunity in which it can prove its worth. And the other associations in Lebanon must cooperate and unify their point of view concerning the international role of the Lebanese woman; and they must make their voice heard by woman in the neighboring Arab countries, so that these may strive, first, with their governments to obtain their rights, and second, to take an actual part in world women's efforts."

I also asked Miss Jurdak what had come of the holding of a world women's congress, as was mentioned at the women's congress held in San Francisco last May. She said: "We resolved upon it, but we fixed neither the time nor the place. In my unofficial conversations with the members of our committee — and I have made friends with them all — I mentioned Lebanon to them as a meeting place, and they showed their approval and their eagerness!!"

O women of Lebanon, do not disappoint these hopes. Lebanon expects of you, and so does the world, that you continue the march forward. The Lebanese woman has given proof, throughout her history, and especially in the modern era, of an intelligence, an energy, and a skill in all her national and social undertakings that have stirred the admiration and the wonder of kin and stranger alike. She cannot, then, leave any room for retreat or failure — and she will leave none, she who is heir to the wisdom of the generations, daughter of liberty, nursling of the mountains — adorned with firmness of character, bearer of the torch of light, joining in her person the virtues of the East to the virtues of the West. Her mission is singular and her role momentous: she will persevere and stand fast with the steadfastness of Sannin, and her works will endure with the immortality of the Cedars.