Gender-Relevant Legal Change in Lebanon

Law is the vehicle through which society defines not only its regulations, but also its actual values and behavioral patterns, as well as what is considered to be natural or unnatural. As such, the laws described in this article become symbols of what Lebanese society considers natural or not and hence assume far more implications than their strictly legal context would admit. Consequently, the law, as the symbol of authority, exercises its power through its simultaneous claim to pragmatic common sense. This is attested to by the difficulties encountered by Lebanese women and human rights organizations in their endeavors to repeal or amend discriminatory laws, or to introduce new laws that would guarantee the welfare of women and protect their rights. Due to the efforts of these women and human rights organizations, several Lebanese discriminatory laws were repealed or amended, from 1953 to the present. Yet, a summary study of the personal status codes (family law) and the civil and secular laws (everything else) clearly demonstrates that the position of a married woman in Lebanon is still that of a femme couverte, since upon marriage, she loses most of her civil rights, becomes the ward of her husband, and assumes a subordinate legal position, one that is incorporated into that of the husband.