The Committee for the Follow-Up on Women's Issues – CFUWI has recently produced a guide which calls for the amendment of the municipalities’ law in Lebanon, and for the adoption of women´s quota, in order to ensure gender equality and full participation of women in municipal elections. The guide provides recommendations, advice and arguments in order to raise awareness among several target groups such as members of municipal councils, parliamentarians, and citizens… The guide has already been sent to 50 NGOsso as to obtain their support for the modification of the elections’ law. It will be further distributed to municipalities’ members in Mount Lebanon to lobby and advocate for the adoption, in the Parliament, of the draft law which is promoted by the civil society. Parliament’s members representing Mount Lebanon will be directly targeted.

This initiative is part of the project “Increasing the representation of Lebanese Women in local political life” which has been launched to overcome the obstacles which prevent women from reaching high level positions in politics such as the lack of awareness on the importance of gender quotas and, at legislative level, the need to modify the electoral law and develop policies to increase women’s political participation. The project is conducted by CFUWI as the local cluster leader of gender equality actors© in Mount Lebanon’s governorate in partnership with Byblos Municipality, Smart Center, Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women and Women Sector in Future Movement.

The project “Increasing the representation of Lebanese women in local political life” is the result of the pilot mobilization action which was developed in 2015 with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI). It is one of fieldwork projects realised within the framework of the Axis 1 "Strengthening the capacity of the actors working for equality" of the project “Women for the future in the Mediterranean”, funded by the MAEDI, and framed within the project "Developing Women’s Empowerment" labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean. "Strengthening the capacity of the actors working for gender equality" is coordinated by the European Institute of the Mediterranean and is in synergy with the Foundation’s mission which supports initiatives on the ground aimed at empowering women.

For more information on the project please visit:

https://www.euromedwomen.foundation/pg/en/news/view/5889/