Women's Affairs (News of Women's Activity)

★ The world conference of the Young Women's Christian Association meets in Lebanon on October 15.

The conference will open in the Unesco building in the presence of His Excellency the President of the Republic, the leading men of the government, the deputies, and the ministers plenipotentiary of the foreign states; the speeches of welcome will be delivered, and then the delegates will present their credentials.

A large number of the delegates who will take part in this conference have arrived so far; among them are known the delegates of America, Denmark, and Britain. Sixty-five countries will be represented at the conference, and the delegates number 280 ladies.

Many banquets will be given in their honor, so that they may become acquainted with the country and its ancient monuments... Women's circles the world over attach the greatest importance to this conference.

★ Last month Lebanon was visited by the Egyptian leader Mrs. Hawa Idris, in whose honor the Commissariat of Tourism and Summering gave a sumptuous luncheon at Zahle, to which were invited Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, president of the General Arab Women's Union, Mrs. Munira Shehadeh, one of the workers in the women's field, and the senior officials of the Commissariat of Tourism and Summering.

The conversation ranged over the various affairs of woman in the Arab world and the stages of progress she has traversed toward winning her political rights, and all expressed their hope that the aspirations of the Lebanese woman would be fulfilled and that she would obtain her political rights through the Chamber of Deputies' approval of the draft law laid before it, which provides that woman be given her full political rights.

Mrs. Idris praised the efforts the Lebanese government is making to improve the mountain summer resorts. She was greatly pleased by the flourishing and the activity she witnessed, and said: "Lebanon is indeed the paradise of the Arab lands."

★ On September 21 Lebanon celebrated the anniversary of the renewal of the term of the President of the Lebanese Republic. Radio Lebanon presented special and varied programs in celebration of this happy occasion, concluding them in the evening with a grand official ceremony in which a large number of Lebanese personalities took part. The Lebanese Women's League was invited to take part in this ceremony, and the address fell to Mrs. Emily Fares Ibrahim; the reader may find its text elsewhere in this issue.

★ Among the activities of our women beyond the seas is the fine address delivered by the woman of letters Mrs. Mari Yanni Ata Allah on the occasion of the festival of liberty in Chile, where the writer now lives.

In her address, Mrs. Mari Ata Allah offers her congratulations to the Chilean people and describes the grandeur of this national festival in that advanced country.

She then pays tribute to the merits of that country, in acknowledgment of its goodness, saying: "It is she who has sheltered the thousands of our countrymen under the shade of her security, her justice, and her equality between them and her own sons, giving them the same right to education and to employment according to the competence of each one of them, with no difference and no discrimination."