The Problems of the Lebanese Woman

Mr. Najati Sidqi conducted a survey among certain women workers in the women's field, turning on four questions in which the fundamental problems of the Lebanese woman are comprised. We publish here these questions, together with the first part of the replies to them, for our gracious readers' perusal:

The Questions:

1) Does the cultured Lebanese woman perform her social-reform mission to the fullest?

2) What are the problems the Lebanese woman faces in the literary field, and how can she overcome them?

3) What are the most prominent problems of upbringing in the Lebanese home, and how are they to be solved?

4) Does the Lebanese woman's participation in public life constitute a danger to her domestic existence?

(1) The cultured Lebanese woman takes the utmost care over public affairs and participates actively in the various branches of social activity. She has marked social inclinations, a boundless readiness for sacrifice, and she performs her social-reform mission so far as her time, her means, and her culture allow. The greatest witness is the number of associations and charitable institutions that have arisen among us and that carry out noble tasks whose material and spiritual effect we can feel in the strengthening of social consciousness and the fostering of moral virtues in society, in all the various forms of piety and charity.

If the Lebanese woman's feeling is nourished it will blossom, and she will take an ample share in the social revival by which woman's mission — the mission of goodness, love, and beauty — is fulfilled.

(2) The Lebanese woman has scarcely any books devoted to her or examining her affairs — only the merest trifle. She has not written about herself, nor has man written about her, and she has not been prepared from childhood to read abundantly, as is the case in the West.

The Lebanese woman takes eagerly to reading fiction, for she sees in it a great world overflowing with the colors of sensuous, moral, and psychological beauty, one that requires of her no mental exertion; so she satisfies her natural inclinations with the experiences of life it contains.

She likes also to look through the various magazines adorned with pictures and colors and written in easy language. As for the woman of high culture, she takes up all manner of scientific and literary subjects, ancient or modern, including works in foreign languages. Hope is great that the Lebanese woman will advance in the literary field, since the women's renaissance has begun to develop, desiring to keep pace with man in all branches of activity; and this is warrant that what her soul longs for — the acquisition of the sciences and the arts — will be achieved, so that she will compose, or translate what she needs from Europe and America, in the light of the Lebanese environment.

(3) The most prominent problem of upbringing in the home is the failure to prepare husband and wife to make of their marriage a partnership founded on affection, love, and unity of mind, together with a correct understanding of the physical and mental training of the child's nature. For woman is no longer prepared to be merely a housewife and a mother.

Today certain colleges and higher schools have begun to introduce into their curricula psychology, marital relations, hygiene, and other requisites of family life.

May we in the very near future pluck the fruits of these valuable lessons in modern Lebanese upbringing.

(4) Yes indeed. The participation of the Lebanese woman in public life constitutes a danger to her domestic existence — that is, to the family, to motherhood, and to society in general. The home is the natural place within whose walls woman ought to devote herself to work; the restless life between home and job wears out the nerves and destroys woman's femininity.

Over and above bearing the burden of motherhood, tending its helpless, exhausting infancy, and taking charge of its long, wearying childhood — the nights of vigil beside the little one's cradle take from her rest, her health, and her vitality, that he may grow and go forward in the procession of life.

The married woman's life is a continual expenditure, that she may give life to other creatures at the cost of what is taken from her own.

But I wish to make one important observation: all our girls must be prepared for honorable gainful work, so that they do not become burdens upon society should the breadwinner be lost or fall ill, or should they not marry, or when a woman has no household duties to fill her day.

(1) In Lebanon there are two classes of women: a class whose influence is not to be slighted, which still performs its reform mission to the fullest. I say this remembering dozens of silent workers in the field of social service, in the fight against vagrancy and prostitution, and in the war on illiteracy, ignorance, and fanaticism.

Were it not for this vital element among the women of Lebanon, who faced difficulties and bore obstacles in order to bring a happier life to hundreds of women, the social level in Lebanon would be other than it is now.

As for the second class, which represents the great mass of cultured women in Lebanon, it cares nothing for conditions and feels no sense of the social responsibility laid upon its shoulders. Between the two classes lies a vast distance and a deep chasm. What is regrettable is that the good class represents a tiny minority; but I am among the optimists, among those who believe that the striving minority must one day sweep away the passive, overbearing majority.

(2) Apart from the very little that is being written today, we cannot consider that the Lebanese woman contributes effectively in the literary field. This goes back to the superficiality of the culture in which most of our institutes train her, and also to her general weakness in the Arabic language. The Lebanese woman cannot contribute in the literary field unless she nourishes her thoughts with worthwhile reading and follows the march of thought and letters, here and in the West, in a regular and serious fashion; and unless she tries to study her language with devotion, desire, and faith, and tries to express her thoughts in it. If she does not do this, Lebanese women's literature will remain nonexistent.

(3) The most prominent problem of upbringing in the Lebanese home is the sentimental problem which makes fathers and mothers believe that the young, however much they grow, remain in need of their care. The child in the Lebanese home is not, on the whole, brought up to rely on himself, free in the use of his powers and capacities; and no inclination toward positive independence and action appears in our youth unless nature has granted them an ample share of intelligence with which to fight reactionary restriction. I regard this state of affairs as a danger, for it hinders the children's growth, holds them back from using their gifts to the utmost, and frustrates their hopes and aspirations.

Would that fathers and mothers in Lebanon might train themselves to feel that when the child reaches the age of maturity he must decide many of his problems for himself, and that he can succeed, with God's blessing, if they permit him to use his mind and make it the judge in distinguishing matters and knowing their worth.

There is a second problem no less dangerous than the first: the meddling of relatives with the children. The interference of his mother and father is enough for the growing child; often the elder brother is a stumbling block in the progress of a brother who surpasses him in intelligence and ability — not from ill will, but from ignorance of the measures of things. And often the interference of grandfather or grandmother, paternal uncle or aunt, maternal uncle or aunt, has evil consequences in the upbringing of the rising generation. Parents alone must be charged with solving their children's problems, and they must look at them in a natural, balanced way, not arraigning their children for surface slips that have no effect on their general progress.

There is a third danger: the absence of the true sporting spirit from our upbringing in Lebanon. I mean by this that we, old and young, in a general and comprehensive way, do not meet defeat with magnanimity and fortitude; rather, in the hour of confusion and collapse we break out with negative forces steeped in the spirit of revenge, rancor, and the maligning of others. We cannot see the other's point of view; we cannot be forbearing with one another; whoever does not hold our opinion as we do — his opinion is worthless. Often our partial differences and our sterile disputes swell large, because they do not spring from the good intentions that would turn them toward the straight

path. This is what makes us individualists, so that we lose confidence in one another; and this, upon my life, can be resisted only by an upbringing that relies on character more than on knowledge, and that believes in common work and in the melting away of self for the sake of the highest aim.

There is no salvation for us from this abnormal state unless we bring up the young to rely on themselves and to free themselves from the nightmare of conservatism. Here I believe in what Gibran said in his Prophet, addressing parents: Your children are not yours; they are the children of the future, which you do not behold. You may give them your affection and your love, but you cannot give them your thoughts. Do not try to make them like yourselves; rather try to be like them, for life is in continual progress.

(4) The participation of the Lebanese woman in public life does not in any way whatever constitute a danger to her domestic existence. I believe in the necessity of woman's monopolizing social-reform work; I believe in the necessity of her effective contribution to the building of the nation. Her participation in public work takes her away from the atmosphere of gossip, visits, and social rounds whose harms are beyond counting; it takes her away from shrinkage, restriction, and collapse. I believe in directing our home life toward simplicity and in easing our worldly demands, so that woman may be able to take part in the positive associations, organizations, and institutions, whatever their kind.

Best of all is for her to work in the field of social reform, and to monopolize this field if possible — leaving her banquets and her green table to join the few who fight prostitution, combat vagrancy, and work for the reform of the prisons.

From the depths of my heart I believe that the reform we seek cannot be achieved unless it comes at the hand of the cultured, conscious woman who feels her social responsibility.

(1) I do not deny that there is in Lebanon today a social-reform movement carried on by the Lebanese woman under the banner of the Lebanese Women's Union. We have heard her voice, since the dawn of the movement of emancipation, raised always in defense of the homeland's social interests. She has demanded the raising of woman's level, care for motherhood, the fight against prostitution and gambling, the reform of juvenile delinquents, and attention to public health; yet these appeals have borne no fruit, because woman has not obtained her rights in elections whereby she might carry these reforms of hers into effect. The most notable thing she has been able to do has been to call for the formation of charitable associations to establish a day nursery, another house for teaching, and a refuge for the aid of the poor and the infirm. And this organization is still

laboring to raise Lebanon's social level. Perfection belongs to God alone.

(2) The Lebanese woman is still isolated from real life, remote from society, with little acquaintance with, or reading of, what is written and published in newspapers, books, and magazines. If she reads, she reads only what is written about fashions, the cinema, and woman and the elections; and if she goes out, she goes out for amusement and diversion, attending neither literary gatherings nor circles of learning — and this because she has not been directed rightly in this respect, since the concern of the Lebanese home has been merely that its daughter learn foreign languages, or that she work for gain and profit in a factory or an office. This shows that literary and social consciousness in Lebanon is still in its cradle, and that material life has overwhelmed the life of letters, so that neither girl nor boy applies himself to the study of literature, whether Arabic literature or foreign or a blend of the two.

We must open to our girls the doors of the public libraries, so that they may read the literature of the story, the theater, and society, taste the culture of East and West, and grasp real life with a great grasp, describing its pains and correcting its errors — thus affording us a lofty literature to rival the literature of the civilized nations.

(3) Perhaps the most prominent problem of upbringing, as I see it in the Lebanese home, is poverty, which begets ignorance — or say rather ignorance, which begets poverty. I mean both kinds of poverty, the material and the moral, and each has its evident effect upon upbringing. If the economic conditions of the home are not provided, it is impossible for the parents to take the means of rearing the child healthily, and this affects his growth and his bodily completeness, so that he grows up sickly, unable to face difficulties.

Likewise, if the relation between the parents does not prevail in an atmosphere of understanding and cooperation in knowledge, creed, and principle, the child's mentality is corrupted, and the parents' ignorance of these matters harms him grievously, so that by his disgraceful conduct he becomes a burden upon the homeland and society. And since the mother is the first agent in directing the child toward the highest ideals, it is self-evident that she should be educated and highly cultivated in order to be able to discharge this grave task.

(4) This is a belief that man stirs up among the campaigns he directs against woman, out of fear of her competing with him in his work. The Lebanese home, like every home, if it is provided with all the modern technical means of household management, and if its housewife is sensible and wise, knowing how to apportion her household tasks justly, then the man may rest assured that not one stone of his home's structure will fall.

Many of our Lebanese women — physicians, employees, workers, and reformers — are model housewives: like Dr. Saniyya Habboub, Dr. Jamal Karam, Laure Naqqash, Ibtihaj Kaddoura, Ellen Rihan, and others who practice the liberal professions or engage in public work in the factory, the office, and the institution. If you entered their homes you would find them a sound model of the Lebanese home, and if you looked at their children you would discern in their faces the features of the men of tomorrow — and tomorrow and today are warrant for what I say.

The Answers of Mrs. Ellen Rihan

(1) Cultured Lebanese women are many, yet I feel with all regret that the cultured Lebanese woman does not perform her social-reform mission to the fullest. When I say the Lebanese woman I mean the greater number of Lebanese women, for there is a small number who do their duty, toiling and working in the social field and striving for reform. But it is a small number, and so we see the very same persons unchanged in all the fields of work, while the greater number utterly neglects this side.

(2) The Lebanese woman faces no problems in the literary field; she simply does not venture into it, for want of desire. The libraries are open, the lectures weekly, and the newspapers and magazines welcome whatever woman contributes; yet the greater number of Lebanese women does not take to it. The great problem, in my view, is the Lebanese woman's neglect of this side. I say again that I mean the Lebanese woman in general, for the small working number deserves the respect and admiration of the Lebanese.

(3) The problems of upbringing in the Lebanese home are the problems that accompany every period of transition, and we are now suffering the problems of this period, for the currents of the old and the new toss us back and forth. Some families cling to the old, and we see that they lag behind the caravan of progress; others have caught up with the new and stride along it with wide steps. Both cases, I think, are mistaken; but the years are warrant for correcting this mistake, for after a while we shall have tried the new ways and adopted from them what suits us, and sifted the old and kept of it what experience has shown fitting; and thus we shall arrive at a middle course to follow, keeping pace with the speed of the age while preserving our Lebanese character.

(4) The participation of the Lebanese woman in public life constitutes no danger to her domestic existence, because the Lebanese woman, by her upbringing, regards motherhood and married life as her most exalted duties, and she will never let her participation in public life endanger the domestic existence. I mean the domestic existence as we understand it now. As our grandmothers understood it, much of what we do now is a danger to it — such as freedom, the cinema, the theater, etc. ... But the modern domestic existence will not be affected by the Lebanese woman's participation in public life. I shall not examine its merits and defects, for it is the prevailing order and the one we go by, the order we have adopted from the West, which we keep pace with and must keep pace with. In my opinion the spread of gambling and its entry into the Lebanese home is the greatest danger to the home and to the upbringing of the young, and it is responsible for the greater number of our shortcomings. Let us fight gambling despite the difficulty of that, for its current is sweeping; let us fight it and destroy a mighty, deadly enemy — and let us open the doors of public life before woman, easy in our minds about the domestic existence.

Read the answers of Mesdames Faiza Antiba, Zahiyah Dughan, and Jamal Karam Harfush in the October issue.