My Predictions on the Results of the Coming Elections..!

In a few short days we shall pass through a decisive test: either we acquit ourselves well in it and emerge from its depths with heads held high, proud of the good deeds and achievements our hands have offered, for which we shall be praised — or a crushing failure and a dreadful letdown will befall us, and heads will be bowed in shame and embarrassment, and we shall lower our eyes in admission of defeat, failure, and disappointment....

We have struggled for many years... and fought for long days... to reach this stage... the stage of the recognition of our rights, full and undiminished; the stage that entitles us to exercise our rights — especially the political ones — to elect and be elected. What, then, will our fate be?? ... And what do men think of us? This other sex, which we have so long feared, which has so long predicted our failure and our spoiling of affairs? ... Does it think well of us now, or is it still of its former opinion... seeing good in none but its own kind, those who have practiced politics and tested it for many years, sounded its depths, learned its secrets, and arrived at its essence? ... An insistent feeling took hold of me to learn their opinion in this field... so I went about among them, from the minister to the doctor to the journalist to the student to the man in the street, asking and inquiring!...

*

The first I met was His Excellency the Minister of Information, Mr. Muhyi al-Din al-Nasuli, and it was only natural that I should not hesitate to put my question to him, he who in past and present has taken many a stand in support of woman, encouraging her to plunge into every fray.

Hardly had Minister al-Nasuli heard my question when he answered at once: "I am no pessimist, even if the Lebanese woman does not succeed entirely in exercising her political right in the elections for the first time. This practice will not be complete, and a sudden leap is impossible; but the Lebanese woman, with the intelligence and alertness natural to her, will advance step by step toward perfection and will share with man in creating a modern Lebanese state and a virtuous Lebanese society.

In the past we flew with one wing; today we shall fly with two, and however weak one of them may be, practice will restore to this wing, which was broken, its strength and firmness. Forward!"

After that I directed my question to the doctor who has become known in the world of letters and in the fields of humanitarian service until his fame spread far and wide — I mean Dr. Georges Hanna.

I knocked at his house in Achrafieh, and his daughter Mayy received me, welcoming and cheerful, and went on to complain to me of the uproar people are raising around the elections, especially since her father is one of the candidates...

I surprised Dr. Hanna with my question, and he answered:

"I may be among the people who know woman best, for I have spent thirty years observing her as wife, mother, and educator in the course of practicing my profession as a women's doctor, and I have reached the conclusion that woman is the mainstay of society. Her first concern is that a society be prepared for her children in which they may live a happy life and be given the opportunities of learning, health, and honorable work.

In my opinion, a society in which woman is not allowed to extend her hand to work for its progress remains a backward society. Therefore the step we have taken in recognizing woman's right to vote is a herald of hope. And I am certain that this first step will yield good fruit and must be followed by further steps.

I have struggled alongside woman ever since I entered the arena of social and political struggle, and I am happy to see the beginning of the realization of this social, political, and national hope. Our hope hangs on the awareness woman will show in this step, and I firmly believe it will be a blessed step and the beginning of a new era."

I turned my eyes toward the press, and there met me a composed, calm face — the face of Mr. Najati Sidqi, the journalist, radio critic, and well-known man of letters. Hardly had I sprung my question on him when he answered:

"The truth is that the Lebanese woman is undertaking a singular experiment in the history of the Arab women's movement.. for she has gained a right that her sisters in no other Arab country have gained.

The main question is this: will woman's presence in the parliamentary elections work to curb the excesses of electoral corruption (chaos and intimidation and bribery and intimidation), or will she herself take shelter behind the sanctity of femininity and the dignity of her sex, and contribute to spreading electoral corruption?

In my opinion, this first experiment of woman's participation in the parliamentary elections will produce no essential change in the parliamentary situation, and this for several reasons, the most important of which are:

First — that woman, on the whole, lacks political, social, and organizational awareness.

Second — that the right to vote which she has gained has not yet penetrated her soul so deeply as to become part of her inherited national traditions.

Third — that her enjoyment of political rights does not, to some degree, keep pace with her enjoyment of social rights.. She will draw her electoral point of view from her home — that is, from her husband, her children, and her relatives — and consequently she will give her vote to the 'boss' in whose train the family marches.

Fourth — it is very likely that woman will resort to intimidating the daughters of her own sex in the elections, thereby creating problems among the men and causing family rancors without end."

I forgave Mr. Sidqi this pessimism of his, and wished that woman might be given the opportunity to disappoint his expectations of her...

Surely the artists must have an opinion in this field... What, I wonder, is their view?? — they who understand woman better than others, since most of their art rests upon her; and no wonder, for she is the wellspring of their inspiration and the source of their vision.. And while I was thinking of this, there passed by me, with a greeting, Assi Rahbani, the well-known innovating composer. My reply to his greeting was my usual question, whereupon he smiled his calm smile before answering:

"Woman's right to vote is a natural right beyond dispute, and if she was deprived of this right for a long era, that is because our parliamentary system had not yet crystallized. We now stand before the first law giving woman the right to vote. Woman may not win parliamentary seats this time, and some women may be swept along according to the politics of homes and family; but there is no doubt that the women of the vanguard will come to the fore at this stage and lay the cornerstone of the Lebanese woman's advance."

In the press of examinations, amid the flood of papers, notebooks, and books, I found the pharmacy student at the American University of Beirut, Samih Drouzi, absorbed in studying his lessons... I did not spare him my question... and he saw no escape from answering, and from moving suddenly from the world of chemistry to the world of woman and the vote... and that was no light or easy thing for him... He said, his eyes still fixed on the chemistry book:

"I hope that among our deputies there will be some of our active women, for woman has a more humane outlook than man and understands social conditions, in many cases, better than he does.. We have had our fill of politics; we want reform that is social more than political..."

I contented myself with that brief answer, and left him to his studying and his examinations...

And the man in the street has his opinion on this question — that simple, native-born philosopher — so why should I not put my question to him?

He was an aged man, bent under a burden that weighed down his shoulders — sacks of flour — which he had set aside so as to rest a little; the sweat was pouring from him in abundance, soaking his worn and threadbare rags. I surprised him with my question, and he did not grasp what I had said, thinking I was asking him the way to some street; but I explained the question to him again, whereupon he studied my face, taking on an air of gravity and seriousness, as though embarking on some momentous task — especially as I had told him that his opinion would be published in a magazine read by all the people. He said:

"Look, lady, for us it makes no difference whether the lady gets into Parliament or not. We just want to secure our living, and if our daily bread comes by way of the lady, then she is most welcome... At least she is more merciful than the others. Her good heart is compassionate; maybe she will take pity on us, the toiling wretches of this life."