The family's happiness was not complete until Habib came!
absorption in establishing our home and preparing the atmosphere necessary for organized work — an operation that will take months, during which I shall study the existing situation in Lebanon. Then I shall be happy to offer my services wherever I find myself able to serve...
Q — Are you satisfied with the Lebanese woman's activity at present? Have you noticed any progress over what came before?
A — My distance during these last ten years from women's circles in Lebanon has removed me from the reality of what activity is under way, apart from the news of congresses I used to read in "The Woman's Voice." But I can affirm the excellent reputation the Lebanese woman has won abroad through those who represented her at the embassy, at congresses, and in United Nations circles — and her reputation rests on her being an excellent wife and a housewife without equal! What I hope is that this reputation will remain an expression of the truth!
Q — In your view, did the American woman gain or lose by obtaining most of her civil rights?
A — In my view the American woman gained. It is enough that she gave proof of her ability to bear responsibilities like the man, surpassing him in some fields. The American woman went to extremes of her own accord in exercising her civil rights, and
she has now felt the extremity of her step. She has been asking herself whether, in her leaving the home and competing with the man at work, she was the party chiefly responsible for the breaking up of the family — and whether it would be better for her to return to her domestic paradise and tend her children, now that it has become plain to her that there is no human being or jinn in the world who can take her place in that. This problem exists in America, no doubt — though without the exaggeration the newspapers practice deliberately to sell their wares!
Yet whether the American woman gained or lost by obtaining her civil rights, I do not believe it is permissible for us to stop short of demanding our own civil rights.
Q — In the light of your wide experience — ten years in world circles — how can the Arab woman profit from what her
Habib Charles Malik takes 100% in his first examination!