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In preparation for the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women, The U.S. branchof Amnesty International has launched a campaign to draw attention to increasingabuses of women's basic human rights around the world.

“Women in the Performing Arts” was the subject of a round table discussion held at the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World in January 2007. The participants were Nidal Ashqar, a pioneer actress and director, and the first Lebanese woman to manage her own theater Masrah al-Madina; Julia Kassar, renowned Lebanese actress and acting instructor; Joelle Khoury, pianist, composer, and founder of the Jazz quintet In-Version; Yasmina Fayed, singer in the troupe Shahadeen ya Baladna and assistant producer at Future Television; Pamela Koueik, singer and university student at LAU; Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, director of the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World, and Mona Knio, guest editor of al-Raida. Due to space constraints, the following are excerpts from the two-hour discussion.

This report is an attempt to summarize the issues and questions raised at a regional worl

In line with its mission to enhance networking and communication by extending ties with international organizations working on gender issues, Al-Raida will be reprinting policy and issue briefs prepared by the International Labour Organization in its upcoming issues. The purpose of this joint venture is to promote research on the condition of women in the Arab world, especially with respect to social change and development, and to reach out to women and empower them through consciousness-raising. This brief below is reprinted with permission from the International Labour Organization Regional Office for Arab States published by ILO, 2010.

The idea for this section arose from the realization that the historical evaluationstudies at the front of the issue needed some counterbalancing appraisal of thepresent. But this need presented us with many problems, among them the numberand diversity of the women’s movements, the small pool of specialists with aregional overview, the difficulty for grassroots activists of extricating themselvessufficiently from day-to-day activities to analyze their situation.

Documents of Arab Conferences and Workshops About Women

Born in Cairo in 1914, Amina Sa'id has been a champion of women's rights since her school days. Chosen by the famous Egyptian feminist Huda Sha'rawi to give a speech in classical Arabic at a charity ball, Amina Sa'id became her assistant and read all her speeches until her death in 1947.

This bibliography is not complete. It is weak in Arabic and French sources, and has nothing in other world languages.)

The Institute Conferences

Reliable, up-to-date and comprehensive statistical data on any facet of post-war Lebanese society are very difficult to find. For many Lebanese, a statistical survey is not simply a fast and efficient way of obtaining objective data, it is also a highly charged political issue touching upon the very roots of the Lebanese civil war, most notably the questions of confessional powersharing and Lebanon's cultural identity.

Out of the twenty-two members of the League of Arab States, only eleven have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Women's institutes all over the world are familiar with the rush involved in administrating workshops for women in development not to mention the sense of achievement afterwards.

Miscellaneous envrironmental progress

In five intense days (November 8- 12, 1991), The World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet rated an overwhelming success by participants, and realized that the nations of the world were rolling to Rio with barely a nod toward the participation of women.

Aziza Hussein: Egypt

The Institute of Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW), established in 1973, took the whole Arab region as its field of observation and reporting. This far-reaching ambition has sustained the Institute and its publications, especially Al-Raida, ever since. Yet the goal of covering such a large area is a challenging one: the Arab League states - 22 - stretch from Mauritania in the West to the ComorosIslands in the East

The following three public presentations on the experiences of reforming nationality law were given at a workshop entitled “Towards Reforming the Nationality Law in Lebanon” held in Beirut on March 10, 2009. The workshop was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Committee for the Follow Up on Women Issues within the “Lebanese Women Rights and the Nationality Law” Project.

The goal of the study entitled "Female Labor Force in Lebanon" is to provide the data base needed to formulate prioritized strategy related to the supply of and demand for women in the Lebanese labor market and to design adequate plans of action and policies to implement such a strategy.

I hope to retain my independence for as long as possible. This may mean that I have to paym for help, but I do not expect itfrom you or your partners ... If I reach a point when I cannot live independently I do not expect any of you 10 provide me with a home. I hope and plan to make arrangements with some of my friends to live together in some sort of sheltered accommodation but, failing that, I will have to find the most acceptable place I can and if it uses all my savings - well, they are my savings. If, by then, I am unable to make decision.l' for myself; you mayhave to jointly find the best place for me but none of you should feel guilty about not laking the burden. I do nOI want you to do so - whatever I might be saying at the time. (Growing Old Disgracefully, p.179)

Draft Law to Create the Green CardThe following article is the translated text of the Green Card draft law endorsed by Member of Parliament Neematallah Abi Nasr and submitted to the Minister of Justice Ibrahim Najjar for review. Yet Another Modest ProposalWhen Jonathan Swift published his satirical essay “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public” in 1729, he little knew that he was starting a chain of events that would in time become a common pastime – the writing of “Modest Proposals” on a vast range of subjects. Member of Parliament Neematallah Abi Nasr recently offered his own “modest proposal” with regard to the issue of Nationality Law in Lebanon, to wit that the state should offer the families of Lebanese women a Green Card similarto the system normally practiced in the USA and elsewhere in the western world.

Because of the duration, depth and devastation of the Lebanese conflict, Lebanese women's roles changed drastically during the war. Many women lost their husbands, whi Ie others were abandoned and left to fend for themselves as the social order disintegrated. Women's traditional sources of income and other means ofsubsistence in their villages of origin were lost.

When my dear friend, Mona Khalaf asked me to contribute a short piece on my experience in politics this gave me an opportunity to think about my experiences ingeneral and how they affected my life. I would like to share a few of those thoughts with you.

I was born in Sidon, Lebanon, a conservative Muslim town, to a conservative yet progressive Druse family. My grandfather had migrated from a village named Atrine, located in the Shuf mountains of Lebanon, before the First World War. He had come to Sidon to begin a business venture, as Sidon was the commercial capital of Lebanon in those days .

Services Rendered to the Disabled in the ECWA Region

Interview with Judge Dr. Mohamad Ali Chekhaibe The Honorable Judge Dr. Mohamad Ali Chekhaibe is President of the Labor Court of Beirut since 1966. He is also President of the Collective Conflict Court, as well as Professor of Law at St. Joseph University and Professor of Law at the Judge Institute in Beirut. Some of his most prominant publications inArabic are:- AI-Wasit Fi Qanoun AI'Amal- Nizam Nihayat AI-Khedmah- AI-Sarf AI-Tasi'fi fi 'Aqd AI-'Amal AI-Fardi

Recently Received by IWSAW

Tyre, the «Phoenician Metropolis» praised by historians for its past beauty and glory, was founded in 2750 B.C. It rapidly became the most important commercial centre of its timerenowned for its purple dye and glass industries.

The Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) organized a series of four panel discussions about Disabilities, on the last Wednesday of each month beginning with February, at the Beirut University College's Irwin Hall.

In preparing for the Fourth International Women's Conference in Beijing, the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) organized an important national meeting, sponsored by Lebanese First Lady Mona AI-Hrawi at the Riviera Hotel in Beirut on August 12 and 13, 1995.

When the United Nations was formed, women's organizations around the world successfully pushed for inclusion of a commitment to the equal rights of men and women in the UN Charter.

As early as the latter part of the 19th century, feminists in the West claimed the franchise for women, in accordance with the Human Rights Charter which recognized equality of rights for all people, regardless of sex or race.

The National Gallery of Jordan celebrated its fifth anniversary on the 7th of February 1984. Founded in 1979 by the Royal Society of Fine Arts, the Gallery's main objective is to be a pioneer of the arts not only in Jordan but also in the rest of the Arab world.

In Cairo, in a place called Matareya, live 4000 'zabbalins' or garbage collectors in sub-human conditions - in environments similar to those of the 'villas m iserias' of Buenos Aires, the 'favelas' of Mexico, the 'barradas' of Lima and the slums of Bombay and Calcutta.

Sudan/Jordan

The essence of education for women in the Arab world was not conceived until the nineteenth century (1). The first and most intensive development took place in the fertile crescent or what is known as Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. Development in the Gulf countries came much later.

The subject of female genital mutilation has received special attention in the issues of Al-Raida. A report was published in it about the work of Fran Hosken, an experienced reseracher on the topic and author of the voluminous «Hosken Report»

The Lebanese Family Planning Association (LFPA) was founded in 1969. It is one of nine associations established in countries of the Middle East and North Africa between 1965 and 1971, and affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). The nine countries are: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Iraq and Cyprus. The Family Planning Associations of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Yemen and the Yemen Democratic Republic joined in 1976.

Miscellaneous worlwide news on Women

Organized by the Center For Arab Unity Studies, a seminar on the general topic of the Arab woman and her role in the Arab unity movement was held in Beirut, Lebanon on 21-24 September, 1981.

Twenty years have passed since the movement began. The relevant questions today are: «What have they (women) done?», «Where do they stand today?» and «What is the outcome in Africa , in Europe , in Asia and in America?»

In its process of raising awareness among Lebanese women concerning issues of violence and abuse, the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in cooperation with the Embassy of the United States of America in Beirut organized a two-day workshop.

Women At the Global Forum and in Participating NGOs: Wangari Maathai, Frances Kissling, Christina Vollmer, Barbara Bramble, Mabel Bianco

The Arab Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Fourth World Conference on Women adopted "Peace" as its aim for the achievement of development and equality, according to Dr. Sabah Bakjaji, UnderSecretary- General of the United NationsExecutive Secretary of ESCWA. "Peace will allow resources formerly utilized for war to be channeled to development and to achieve the three goals of the conference: providing women with health services and opportunities for education and work, on an equal footing for men" he said at the opening of The Arab Regional Preparatory meeting on November 6-10, 1994, in Amman, Jordan.

The World Health Organization estimates that 70 percent of the globe's urban population breathes air made unhealthy through high levels of smog, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other polutants.(Intemational Wildlife, the National Wildlife Federation, Marchi April 1990).

Woman in Management» has become a major subject for Forums sponsored by the Middle East Industrial Consultants (MEIRC) held consecutively in 1988, 1989 and 1990 in the Arab Gulf.

Washington, D.C. -- December 1993 The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) and the International Council for Women in the Arts (ICWA) are pleased to present theexhibition Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, which brings together works by seventy accomplished modern painters and sculptors from fifteen Arab countries.

Conference: Arab Women and the Environment

Drawing

How did it all begin? How did it develop? What are its future prospects? These three questions, along with many others, come to one's mind when talking about the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World. Answering them, we felt, could help trace the 25 year life story of the Institute, a life story marked by a seventeen year civil strife which has, undoubtedly, slowed the momentum of its activities, but has not succeeded in hindering its determination to move ahead in promoting the advancement of Arab women.

"Women and Education", The National Council of Lebanese Women