For over 70 years Lebanese Women have been active in the social, educational and philanthropic fields. In 1921 the necessity for cooperation and coordination of efforts became apparent, so the presidents of the various women's organizations, then existing, got together and laid down the constitution for a Lebanese Women's Federation.
Since that date, the Federation has been growing in size and steadily widening its sphere of activities.
The members of the federation are composed of the President plus four members of each member-society.
The Lebanese Federation is a member of the International Women's Alliance and, in 1944, after the Cairo Conference, it became an active member of the General Arab Women's Federation.
The Federation has 7 active Committees as follows :
a. The Cultural Committee : Its chief aims are : to establish in Lebanon a unified system of education, 2) to introduce compulsory education and 3) to increase the number of Industrial and Agricultural schools in the country.
b. The Committee on Prison-reform : Visits the prisons, the women's and children's sections in particular, and attends to their problems. It has succeeded in making the Government establish a reformatory for youngsters. It trains
prisoners for a trade or a craft and provides them with books and other reading matter.
c. The Committee on Moral-Standards : The work of this committee has been concentrated mainly on the problem of prostitution. Fighting illegal as well as legal prostitution and providing for unfortunate girls new opportunities that will open for them better ways of life, is its main object.
d. The Political Committee : The main objective of this committee is to realize for the women of Lebanon equality with men in political status.
e. The Health Committee: The Federation, through this Committee, has been cooperating with the responsible Government authorities, in looking after the health-conditions of the labouring classes.
g. The Palestine Committee : The aim of this committee is to foster the Arab cause in Palestine and to enlighten public opinion on the dangerous issues that it involves.
h. The Child-Welfare Committee : For twelve years this was one of the most active committees in the Federation. It took into its care hundreds of poor or parentless children and established two special institutions for this purpose. However, its work increased so much that it was decided to seperate the two component institutions into two separate societies.
There are twenty-three
member-societies in the Federation, they are:
1. The Union of Lebanese Women : Founded in 1943, this Society today is one of the largest and most prominent women's organizations in Lebanon.
The Union has launched two very outstanding projects, a Modern Kindergarten and a Women's Magazine. Both projects were started in 1945 and have advanced very rapidly. The Kindergarten is run by specialists and follows the most modern western systems of child-education. The laying of the cornerstone of a new building for the kindergarten will take place on April 9th, of this year.
The magazine, «Sawt-ul-Mar'ah» was started with the aim of providing for the women of the Arabic Speaking Countries a means for the exchange of ideas on common problems. It carries the message of the Lebanese women to its readers both in the Arab countries and abroad. Two special issues in three languages were published this year. The first at the occaision of the UNESCO conference held in Beirut, and the second is this very number you are reading.
Aside from the above two main projects, the Union is always active and alive to other social, national and educational problems. Mrs. Heneni Tarcha was elected as the first President of the Union in 1943 and