Although the Lebanese constitution guarantees equal rights between all citizens and the country has ratified a number of international treaties that guarantee gender equality, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Lebanon has a Gender Inequality Index value of 0.638, ranking it 132 out of 155 countries in the 2021 Gender Gap Index.
Even more, the Beirut blast of 04/08/2020 has put an additional burden on Lebanese men and women, increasing social and gender inequalities. Reports on domestic violence have reported the pandemic have led to an increase in gender-based violence.[1] Court closures due to lockdowns have made access to legal protection for survivors difficult and has delayed responses as a result.[2] In addition the sanitary crisis has added a significant workload on women as main responsible for care, increased restrictions of their mobility, and greatly affected their work opportunities.[3] Women’s rights associations have also highlighted the increased risks faced by domestic workers and members of the LGBTQI+ community. The financial, care and health pressures on women in Lebanon are pushing activists to call for a focus on gender equality in international aid responses.[4]
Women empowerment and gender equality are at the top priority of the sustainable development goals agenda: (SDG 5, also mainstreamed in all other 16 SDGs) and are a core value of the European Union (EU). The EU's new Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in External Action 2021–2025 (GAP III) aims to accelerate progress on empowering women and girls, and safeguard gains made on gender equality during the 25 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action.The European Union for Women Empowerment (EU4WE (project aims to strengthen the empowerment of Lebanese women and support institutional mechanisms for gender equality. It was launched in October 2019, at a time when Lebanon is facing a major social, economic and financial crisis, exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
In times of crisis, the EU4WE project aims to empower Lebanese women to create their own opportunities in a more gender-balanced society.
In this challenging context, the EU entrusted Expertise France to implement the project, as they both continue to support Lebanese women and men to build resilience, become actors of change and to promote a fairer and more inclusive society, which is much needed to overcome the current crisis.
The EU4WE, expected to take place between October 2019 and October 2022, aims to reduce gender based violence through women empowerment, and enhance existing institutional mechanisms working towards gender equality.
EH4WE has three main components:
- Develop and dedicate a capacity building program specific to the needs of women entrepreneurs, based on a study of their situation in Beirut, Tyr and Metn, and provide support to women-owned/led businesses who will participate in the programme.
- Emergency programme to support 30 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) women-led and/or women-owned in Beirut affected by the blast of the 4th of August 2020. The programme provides a €5000 grant as well as coaching and training to help their recovery.
- Train 53 lawyers who work before religious and civil courts on domestic violence to enhance their capacities and create a taskforce to support women survivors of GBV.
- Work with gender machineries to get a better knowledge of international best practices that are relevant to Lebanon and to feed the advocacy role of the different stakeholders involved in gender equality, with the support of the Lebanon National Gender Observatory.
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The study on the needs of women entrepreneurs in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, and Tyr/South Lebanon gives an overview of the environment in which women-owned/led businesses.evolve and the challenges they meet. The study include recommendations to build a financial and technical support project for women entrepreneurs under the EU4WE project.
The legal study “Enhancing Access to Justice for Survivors of Domestic Violence Before Lebanese Courts - A Practical Approach" was launched in June 2021. It shows how Lebanese laws are sometimes applied in a way that conflicts with adopted international human rights conventions and highlights gaps and inconsistencies in their application. The aim is to identify inaccurate current legal gaps in practices of these judges and courts, in an effort to improve the outcome of cases for survivors of domestic violence in the fight against gender-based violence.
As a next step, the EU4WE team trained 53 attorneys and provided them strategic legal advice to better represent victims of gender-based violence before competent authorities, including criminal, civil, and religious courts, aiming to constitute a knowledgeable “task force” on this matter.
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The catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4th 2020 left many businesses in the area heavily affected. As a response to the Beirut blast, the EU4WE Project partnered with Berytech to launch an emergency grant support program targeted at women-led and/or women-owned businesses affected by the explosion.
During this six-month programme, 30 beneficiaries were identified and will undergo needs assessment sessions, in order to start the disbursement of the grant valued at 5,000 euros (in August 2021). They are currently receiving training and capacity building sessions on different themes related to crisis management and business transformation to help them navigate the current situation.
[1] MiddleEast Monitor, Lebanon: Reports of domestic violence double in 12 months, February 11, 2021.
[2] Ibid.
