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Opinion: Garbage, blasted glass, and the women cleaning up political filth in Lebanon
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We are obsessed with cleaning our homes in Lebanon. I think it is inter-generational, inherited from decades of war and conflict, and exacerbated by the fact that our country is so dirty. We live in one of the most polluted places in the region, with virtually zero public services.
Not that our protests against the government’s failure to effectively provide garbage collection changed much — trash has been piling up ever since. Just this week the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights published a report essentially stating that Lebanon’s current misery was avoidable.
Lebanon is in the grip of one of the worst economic collapses of the century and is still reeling from the 2020 Beirut explosion, the world’s largest non-nuclear blast. And this man-made disaster we find ourselves in, said the UN report, has “deep roots in a venal political system plagued with conflicts of interest.”
Now, just hours ahead of Lebanon’s parliamentary election on Sunday, voters are expected to cast a ballot amidst misery, threats and corruption. It’s the first vote since the financial implosion and civil protests of 2019, and Beirut blast a year later, with newcomers hoping to break the long stranglehold of ruling sectarian politicians.
On the eve of these elections, there are more women running than ever before — a 37% increase in candidates from 2018. The last time Lebanon went to the polls, women’s parliamentary representation also increased — from 3% to 5%.
But though the numbers appear to be headed in the right direction, they don’t really tell the full story.
Yes, a record number of women are running — but the proportion to men is dismal. More women are confident enough to run for parliament. But elsewhere, more women are also migrating. More women are unemployed. With Covid-19, domestic violence increased and women suffered, especially migrant domestic workers who feel under captivity protected by the kafala system.
As women, we suffer the most…
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Source : cnn
