Appointment of man as Lebanon’s first women’s affairs minister sparks outrage

• The appointment of Jean Ogasapian to the new post in Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri’s newly formed government drew widespread condemnation from women’s rights leaders and organizations, a further injury on top of the appointment of only one woman to the 30-member government.
• The stakes are high as advocates work to combat high levels of domestic violence and discriminatory citizenship laws that deny women the power to pass citizenship on to their children upon marrying non-citizens.
• Social media derision has given way to calls for protests against an appointment viewed as illegitimate and in line with the establishment of a cabinet built through nepotism and loyalism rather than competence.

Read more:
“Lebanon protests urged after man picked as first women’s affairs minister” (The Guardian)
“Lebanon appoints man as first ever women’s affairs minister” (The Independent)
“Lebanon’s first minister for women is a man” (The Washington Post)

(Image Credit: Handout/Reuters, via The Guardian)