A Lebanese American University graduate made history as the first female news anchor on a main news program in Saudi Arabia, reported The Daily Mail.
Weam Al Dakheel recently became co-anchor of Al Saudiya’s 9.30 p.m. bulletin, the main news program on Saudi Arabia’s state-run television network. She will work anchor alongside Saudi journalist Omar al-Nashwan.
Weam Al-Dakheel is Saudi Arabia’s first female news anchor. (Twitter/Saudi TV)
Al Dakheel graduated from the Lebanese American University, according to her Facebook page. She was previously a reporter for CNBC Arabia and an anchor for Al-Arab News Channel in Bahrain.
The journalist set a milestone in the conservative country, known for its tight restrictions on women. Saudi Arabia only recently lifted its widely criticized ban on female drivers.
Following Al Dakheel’s first broadcast, many Twitter users expressed their support for the promising future of female journalists in Saudi Arabia.
“This is big from Saudi Arabia,” wrote one Twitter user. “(She is) confident, focused (and) beautiful.”
WATCH: Weam Al Dakheel anchors the main 9:30 p.m. news broadcast in Saudi Arabia:
A total of 111 women are running for office in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, according to the state-run Lebanese National News Agency. This is up from 12 from the last time nationwide elections were held back in 2009.
There are 976 total candidates running for 128 parliamentary seats.
Among the 111 female candidates are high-profile journalist Paula Yaacoubian, activist Nayla Geagea and lawyer Nadine Moussa.
Many of the Lebanon’s youth hope that more female candidates and elected officials can ignite change in the Lebanese political system. Only three percent of Lebanon’s parliament is made up of women, NNA added.
The election is set for May 6, but early voting is already happening around the world. Lebanese citizens living in the Middle East, United States, Australia and Europe are scheduled to vote from April 27 to April 29.
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, celebrated her 18th birthday in Lebanon on Sunday by opening a school for Syrian refugee girls and called on world leaders to invest in “books not bullets”.
Malala became a symbol of defiance after she was shot on a school bus in Pakistan 2012 by the Taliban for advocating girls’ rights to education. She continued campaigning and won the Nobel in 2014.
“I decided to be in Lebanon because I believe that the voices of the Syrian refugees need to be heard and they have been ignored for so long,” Malala told Reuters in a schoolroom decorated with drawings of butterflies.
The Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. It can welcome up to 200 girls aged 14 to 18.
“Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world’s children, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Malala said in a speech.
Lebanon is home to 1.2 million of the 4 million refugees that have fled Syria’s war to neighboring countries. There are about 500,000 Syrian school-age children in Lebanon, but only a fifth are in formal education.
Malala Yousafzai, center, poses with girls for a picture at a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on July 12. The Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. (Jamal Saidi/Reuters)
Lebanon, which allows informal settlements on land rented by refugees, says it can no longer cope with the influx from Syria’s four-year conflict. One in four living in Lebanon is a refugee.
The U.N. says the number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries is expected to reach 4.27 million by the end of the year.
“In Lebanon as well as in Jordan, an increasing number of refugees are being turned back at the border,” Malala said. “This is inhuman and this is shameful.”
Her father Ziauddin said he was proud she was carrying on her activism into adulthood.
“This is the mission we have taken for the last 8-9 years. A small moment for the education of girls in Swat Valley: it is spreading now all over the world,” he said.
Malala was feted with songs and a birthday cake. Moved to tears by the girls, she was modest when asked for advice.
“They are amazing, I don’t think they need any message, I don’t think they need any other advice because they know that education is very important for them.”
Reuters
Examiner StaffComments Off on Malala Yousafzai visits Lebanon; opens school for Syrian refugees 5145
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The results of a new U.S.-based survey gives Lebanese and Armenians yet another thing to brag about. The two proud nationalities can now boast the “sexiness” of their women, as the survey ranks them among the world’s “sexiest.”
According to the survey by MissTravel, a destination dating website, Armenian women are considered the number one “sexiest” nationality, followed by Lebanese in tenth place.
The travel site polled over 110,000 Americans to determine who they thought was best looking. Last year, Australian men and Brazilian women topped the sexy charts.
The change of heart gives well-deserved recognition to the grace and glamor of Lebanese women. But more importantly, it recognies the intelligence and ambition of Lebanese ladies that contribute to the country’s economy, intellect, and sex appeal.
Lebanese TV journalist Rima Karaki made national news when she shut down a London-based Sheikh when he told her to shut up. (MEMRI TV)
And with curves like Kim Kardashian, who can question the bombshell beauty of Armenian ladies? The Armenian-American celebrity recently went on an eight-day tour of her homeland in mid-April.
Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and North all visit the Geghard Monastery in the Kotayk province of Armenia (Irish Mirror)
The survey also ranked sexy men, placing Irish, Australians, and Pakistani’s among the top.
The sexiest nationalities for women:
10. Lebanese
9. Bulgarian
8. Filipina
7. Brazilian
6. Australian
5. English
4. Colombian
3. American
2. Barbadian/Bajan
1. Armenian
The sexiest nationalities for men:
10. Spanish
9. Danish
8. Nigerian
7. Italian
6. Scottish
5. English
4. American
3. Pakistani
2. Australian
1. Irish
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Major Suzanne El-Hajj is one tough woman.
El-Hajj is a pioneering Lebanese security officer and the first female police officer in Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF), the national police and security force of Lebanon.
A graduate of Balamand University, El-Hajj was born in the Koura District of Lebanon. She majored in communications engineering and earned a master’s degree in computer science, making her equipped for combating cyber crime.
In 2001, her father spotted a recruitment notice for a communications position in Internal Security Forces, which did not specify a gender requirement. He encouraged her to apply.
“Until recently, workplace inequality existed in Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF), the country’s national police and security force,” El-Hajj said. “Very few women worked within the ISF: out of 25,000 members, only two were female. I was one of them.”
The second woman, Captain Dyala Mohtar, joined the ISF as a lieutenant in the computing section in 2003.
El-Hajj is known as one of the ISF’s toughest officers, fighting for cyber safety and minority rights, especially among women.
“When people see and accept a woman as mayor and understand that she was truly elected, the scope for seeing more women in Parliament will no longer be a far-fetched idea,” she once suggested.
During her tenure at the ISF communications bureau, Hajj created the ‘Rights, Equality and Diversity Bureau’ to ensure that minority workers, particularly women, were addressed and facilitated.
In 2009, El-Hajj helped coordinate a Civilian Police Training Program Partnership between the United States and Lebanon, where she worked with ISF officials to expand the ranks to include Lebanese women.
In 2012, 610 Lebanese women were accepted by ISF.
El-Hajj recently created a new unit called RED (Rights, Equality, Diversity) Police, with an objective to mainstream diversity within the police in all regions of Lebanon.
“The ISF is recognized as the first institution in the Middle East and North Africa region that enforces gender equity and democracy, and of this, I’m very proud,” she said.
In October 2012, El-Hajj was appointed as the head of the Cyber Crime and Intellectual Property Bureau in Lebanon, becoming the first woman in this position in Lebanon and the Middle East.
“There are female sergeants in this bureau who have been assigned to the same missions as the male sergeants, and they are doing very well,” she said.
WATCH an English interview with Suzanne El-Hajj:
Examiner StaffComments Off on Meet the First Woman to join the Lebanese Security Forces 10178
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanon suffers from severe gender inequality, according to the annual Gender Gap Index issued by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
The survey showed Lebanon falling to 135th place in the list of 142 nations, after Morocco and Jordan, which ranked 133rd and 134th, respectively.
Lebanon was ranked 141st for female political participation, given the low number of women holding public and political office. Lebanon was also at the bottom 10 in terms of labor force participation.
Gender equality was most apparent in Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, according to the report.
Syria ranked 139th, fourth place behind Yemen, Pakistan, and Chad, which remained at the bottom of the index.
“Achieving gender equality is obviously necessary for economic reasons. Only those economies who have full access to all their talent will remain competitive and will prosper,” Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman, said in a statement.
The index ranks countries based on data reported by international organizations on four categories: health and survival, access to education, economic opportunity and political participation.
“Because women account for one-half of a country’s potential talent base, a nation’s competitiveness in the long term depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its women,” the report said.
See the interactive report below:
Examiner StaffComments Off on Report: Lebanon gender inequality among worst in world 2172
BEIRUT: Gilbert Ghostine’s pet project, Diageo’s CSR campaign to empower 2 million women by 2017, had never felt more personal than when the executive watched Lebanese women talk about the difference the program, “Plan W,” had on their lives.
“I feel very proud that we launched Plan W in my home country,” Ghostine, president of DiageoAsia Pacific, told The Daily Star. “This project is my baby.”
Diageo is the enormous alcoholic beverage company selling household names such as Smirnoff, Johnny Walker and Tanquery. With Ghostine at the helm of Diageo’s operations in Asia, Plan W was conceived in 2012 as a corporate social responsibility initiative worth $10 million. Plan W’s launch in Lebanon this spring means the project has now reached 13 countries, and by the end of this year, 900 Lebanese women will have received entrepreneurship training classes as part of Diageo’s initiative.
Plan W seeks to empower women through learning, particularly in the field of entrepreneurship. The project in Lebanon focuses on three main subject areas: communication, accounting and leadership, skills necessary for success, Ghostine said.
Diageo has teamed up with 18 NGOs across the13 Asian countries with Plan W programs.
Local NGO Association D’Entraide Professional is spearheading the work in Lebanon, attracting women to the program, vetting their applications and helping the beneficiaries with microfinance after the program is complete, Ghostine said.
Lebanon’s program targets women living outside the capital and mainly in rural areas. Plan W began with the region of Zahle, where more than 170 women have received training to launch or better their small-scale business plans. Two of the women from this pilot program recently spoke at a news conference about their experiences.
“I felt very emotionally touched by their stories,” Ghostine said.
One of the women, he explained, came to the program hoping to open a small shop where she could sell her homemade preserves and other products. “But she didn’t know how to make a profit,” Ghostine said. For her, the classes on accounting were invaluable, she told the audience.
The project in Lebanon has also revealed areas where small business owners need practical training. Another woman at the news conference lamented that her children were computer savvy but she did not have the tools to learn herself. Ghostine said they were considering how they could incorporate computer courses into the local programs.
Batroun will be the next targeted area, and projects will continue all over the country.
Plan W takes a different approach depending on the socio-economic climate of the country. For example, in Nepal the program targets women in the lowest caste of society, a section of people called “untouchables,” and the most impoverished. Here, however, Plan W leaves the program open to all Lebanese women.
“It’s open to any woman who is Lebanese … here, you can’t put filters,” Ghostine said.
Ghostine takes personal pride in the project because he had been inspired to create it with his team after he met with Burmese political figure Aung San Sun Kyi at the Bangkok World Economic Forum.
The first program was implemented in 2012 and now counts 40,000 women among its beneficiaries. Ghostine explained that helping women was part of the company’s DNA. Forty-four percent of Diageo’s corporate board are women, and Plan W is just one of a number of projects by the company targeting women’s empowerment.
This year Diageo inaugurated its WE Journalism awards, which honor those in media who’ve fought for women’s empowerment. Diageo is also the only alcoholic beverage company to sign the U.N. Women’s Empowerment Principles.
Ghostine said he hoped the project would spur others like it in Lebanon: “This is a great cause and we’re rallying people. … We’re creating a momentum.”
Source: The Daily Star
Examiner StaffComments Off on Beverage company launches women’s empowerment campaign 1828
