THE LEBANESE WOMAN and ELECTIONS

Parliamentary elections in Lebanon were again run this year without the direct participation of the Lebanese woman, and yet the part she played in them cannot be overestimated.

Woman has long been striving to obtain official recognition of her political rights, the movement culminating last June in the election at a special conference of an Executive Committee, supported by all women's societies in the country, and delegated to follow the matter up with the government until women's full political rights are recognized.

The first action of this Executive Committee was to carry a petition to the government, signed by representatives of all women's organizations, aking for an amendment of the electoral laws to provide for voting and representation rights for all women of age. That petition was turned down by the House of Deputies on the grounds that an amendment of that kind was an amendment of the constitution and should therefore be presented by at least 10 members of the House and voted for by a two-thirds majority.

At the next parliamentary session, the request made by the Executive Committee had to be carried to the Cabinet before being brought to the House of Deputies. The Cabinet, instead of throwing it to the House for discussion, turned it to a Constitutional Committee, whose answer came in the form of a promise to grant the educated Lebanese woman rights in municipal elections first, after an amendment has been effected in the municipal laws.

In spite of the seemingly favourable half-way course in this promise, the Executive Committee, representing the vast majority of women's organizations and groups in Lebanon, blankly refused to take it. Their attitude is clear: municipal election laws are not being enforced at present, and when will that amendment be made? Besides, was the Lebanese male citizen given his right to elect by degrees also? And what is it that makes a not highly educated woman less reliable in casting a free vote than a not highly educated man?

Elections took place a couple of weeks ago. The man-in-the-street went to the polls, while all women sat back and watched.

But the Women's Organizations' Executive Committee was at work again, and took a very active part in the elections. It managed to approach most of the candidates and obtained from them written declarations promising to work for the cause of woman's rights at the very outset of their careers once they were elected.

Women also directed public opinion in Lebanon, and campaigned for all worthy candidates, and especially for those in sympathy with their claims. Ladies in Beirut carried out a definite set program of work in convincing educated people to go to the polls, in campaigning against rotrogressive candidates, and in awakening the public to the country's social problems and its needs.

The Political Committee of the Lebanese Women's Federation staged a big publicity campaign during elections week through handbills, cinema ads and airplane messages — calling on the thinking public to judge rationally and vote for their ultimate welfare. They also asked to watch by ballot-boxes on the day of elections and thus encourage freedom of expression at the spot.

No woman in Lebanon literally signed a ballot on Sunday the 15th of April, but the Lebanese woman cast her vote all the same.