abyss of war — this has never entered, and must never enter, woman's mind. We did not raise this cause in order to be told from one side: your demands have come at the wrong time, because there is the Zionist danger and the danger of war; nor to be told from another side: you are spending your efforts and occupying public opinion with your demands at the expense of what is more important. Rather, we wanted woman's equality with man — especially in these circumstances — because the Lebanese woman has the right to be made equal to man, and because the homeland, when its women are equal to its men, becomes more capable and stronger in imposing positions and solutions that will guard it from the evil of entanglement in war, relieve it of the nightmare of the high cost of living, and enforce respect for freedom of thought within it.
In the light of these considerations, the Lebanese woman wishes to continue her efforts toward obtaining her political rights, whole and undiminished, in her capacity as a citizen like man; and on this basis she has the right to expect from you, gentlemen, every assistance and every support."
The Woman's Voice continued its survey, reaching the Ministry of Health, at whose head, at the hour this article is written, stands His Excellency Dr. Elias al-Khoury — that physician struggling to lighten the weight of tuberculosis, so terribly cruel to mothers... He works with a band of humanitarians to bring the number of its victims down to the lowest possible limit, and he comforts those victims with a tender, merciful heart.
Yet, my dear readers, and ladies of the Executive Committee, he supports you on one condition:
That the right to vote and to representation be given in stages, for a leap is impossible.
He says:
Woman and man are twins in rights and duties. This equality at the foundation does not prevent each of them from having personal aptitudes for dealing with certain aspects of life, in which they complement one another, with no superiority of one over the other.
The Western woman was helped by her environment toward emancipation, and in her advance she followed the law of evolution; so her emancipation came as no surprise
His Excellency Dr. Elias al-Khoury, Minister of Health and Public Relief.
to her, but as the natural result of several factors that brought her to where she now stands.
The Eastern woman has taken wide strides toward emancipation, whose effects have appeared in the surroundings in which she lives — something that needs no proof. And whenever I say "the Eastern woman," the Lebanese woman stands in the vanguard: she has contributed effectively in all spheres of literary and social life — in teaching, in education, in relief work — and some years ago she went beyond these into the national sphere, becoming one of the soldiers of independence; she fought the battle at man's side and bore her share of the struggle — so it was natural that she should have the rights he has.
It appears that the emancipated Lebanese woman holds that her equality with man will not be complete unless she obtains the right to vote and to representation — and she criticizes man for monopolizing this right and for making the educated and the ignorant equal within it.
Would granting her this right without restriction remedy what she has criticized in man?
Do we not see that such unrestricted extension among women carries the same hazards as unrestricted extension among men?
And has the Lebanese woman achieved sufficient development in all fields, with nothing left before her but the field of voting and representation, so that she may rest assured of her freedom and of her equality with man?
Opinions are unanimous, from the theoretical standpoint, that the Lebanese woman must be given her right in full. In my belief she can obtain the right to vote and to representation in stages that take account of her readiness, her environment, and her capacities — and a leap is impossible.
He approves of giving women their rights. Does he do so, one wonders, because his friends are pressing him to stand as a candidate for the city of Beirut, so that from this moment he is courting the favor of half of Lebanon?
He says:
I support the women in what they demand, because of my belief that woman — the educated woman especially — holds firmly to her conviction and to what she sees as right; rarely have I seen a woman waver in her belief.
Q — Do you expect woman to succeed in amending the law?
A — If the law is not amended today, then the women must help in the coming elections, so that the Chamber may be composed of sound deputies who will begin their work by recognizing woman's right. In my opinion the new legislation should confine the right to vote and to stand for election to educated women only, because the