The address with which Mrs. Ellen Rihan opened "Women's Week" from Radio Lebanon on January 7, 1952.
The Lord God said: It is not good that Adam should be alone; I will make him a helper, his counterpart. And He took one of his ribs, and the rib which He had taken from Adam He built into a woman, and brought her to Adam.
Ladies and gentlemen:
God called woman a helper to man, his counterpart. In these two words there is clear proof that she was not created to be a subordinate or a bondmaid robbed of her right. And God entrusted to woman the loftiest of functions when He singled her out for motherhood and bestowed on her the title "umm" — mother — the title which, in its two letters, expresses all the love, sacrifice, and service that is in mankind.
Yes, woman is man's helper and his counterpart. Of this His Excellency Abdullah Bey al-Yafi, the Prime Minister, and the members of his cabinet are convinced, and so the ministerial statement came to contain an article providing that woman be given her political rights in full. His Excellency Mr. Habib Abu Shahla, chairman of the Administration and Justice Committee, believes in it, together with a number of the committee's members, and they therefore voted to recognize woman's political right. A great number of the deputies and of the Lebanese believe in it, and the Lebanese press, various syndicates, and many organizations support it. For this reason the Executive Committee of the Women's Organizations in Lebanon resolved to make this week of the month of January 1952 Women's Week; and here I am, performing the duty of opening it in the committee's name from Radio Lebanon this evening.
The Executive Committee of the Women's Organizations is made up of nine ladies elected by representatives of the women's associations in Beirut in the month of April 1950, and then twice re-elected: the first time on June 15, 1950, and the second on February 5, 1951. Those elected on the two occasions were the representatives of fifty-seven
women's organizations from all parts of Lebanon. Nine ladies whom the Lebanese woman has charged with speaking in her name; they are, in alphabetical
order: Emily Fares Ibrahim, Laure Tabet, Dr. Jamal Karam Harfouche, Najla Saab, May Fayyad, Ibtihaj Kaddoura, Najla Kfoury, the lawyer Laure Nasr,
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