On the Women's Conference

The coming month, March, will be the month of woman in the world: in it the international women's conferences will be held, in the city of Beirut.

There is no doubt that this conference — or these women's conferences — bringing together the finest women thinkers of this generation, meeting for the first time in Lebanon, will give the Lebanese woman on the one hand, and the Arab woman on the other, the opportunity to think seriously about her essential being, her own existence, and hence about all that is accident and essence in her life, husk and kernel, so that she may afterward go forth into life free and aware, knowing her duties toward society, and understanding that society, for its part, has duties toward her.

We, the women of the Arab lands, ask ourselves with much bitterness and much pain about our own existence, our social being, our personality, in these Arab societies. Have we performed all our duties toward this society, which demands all our spiritual efforts — sacrifices, love, and devotion? And has this society, in its turn, performed its duties toward the woman in the Arab world — settled her many social problems, and grasped her truth as a mother, as a wife, and as a useful member of this society? Many of our social, moral, political, and economic problems in these lands have not to this day been settled with a wise and prudent settlement, because the fundamental problem — the problem of woman — has not yet been settled in the Arab world.

When, then, will this problem be settled? When will the woman among us be granted the conscious, strong expression of all her spiritual capacities — and they are many — so that she may give the nation of her great giving, beyond which there is no giving?

The woman among us has demands that are true, just, and legitimate, and in them is good, all good, for society and for man himself; and when society grasps the justice of these demands, it will enable woman to shoulder the heavy burdens that man carries alone to this day.

How great a good it would have been for this great women's conference to convene in the capital of Lebanon with the women of Lebanon enjoying all their political rights, so that the Lebanese woman might sit beside the women of the world with that deep confidence in herself, her selfhood, and her whole existence. May this precious opportunity not escape us; let us gather all our strength to go forth into the new life as one rank, one mind.

And one more word to our ladies at this conference: may they take part with knowledge and considered opinion, and not stand in the position of spectators. And may they not go inspecting their wardrobes of formal dress in preparation for the banquets of food and talk, and neglect the essential purpose of this conference.