The Role of the Lebanese American University in the Empowerment of Women

So, what was started as a Junior College is now LAU, this prominent and big university, accepting both men and women and thereby providing a competitive atmosphere that urges our girls to develop and use a larger part of their potential talents. Unfortunately, as Dr. Salwa Nassar admitted during an interview I was having with her, many female university students continue to use only one third of their intellectual capacity, leaving two thirds dormant.

7 0 7 1 back to Lebanon where she founded her pioneering institution, the Village Welfare Society, which was and remains concerned with the development of rural society and educating women to best use their talents, while learning new methods in education, health care, and home economy.
These early educators were also aware of the role of sports in healthy education, so they introduced camping and encouraged the forming of sports teams, such as basketball.It was indeed a positive step and an avantgarde outlook at such an early time -the 1930s.

Where are we Today in Comparison?
The torch went on and is still expanding its circle, giving light and flame to an ever-increasing number of women students, not only in Lebanon but throughout the Arab world.Conservative families have known and still believe that LAU is the ideal university where their daughters can get their higher education in a healthy atmosphere.
So, what was started as a Junior College is now LAU, this prominent and big university, accepting both men and women and thereby providing a competitive atmosphere that urges our girls to develop and use a larger part of their potential talents.Unfortunately, as Dr. Salwa Nassar admitted during an interview I was having with her, many female university students continue to use only one third of their intellectual capacity, leaving two thirds dormant.
When I was asked a few years ago to be the graduation ceremony speaker at the Beirut campus, I was stunned by the large number of graduates of both sexes and the diversity of the fields of specialization, including the sciences, thus enabling this institution to meet the increasing community demands and requirements, and putting it on a competitive level with any one of the historically prominent Beirut universities.
When I joined this university in the mid-1950s, when it was still Beirut College for Women (BCW), I was coming from a remote village.I was naïve but boiling with ambition for education.With only five Lebanese pounds in my purse, I was still determined mentally to overcome all obstacles, despite my modest background in wealth and social status.Both administrative leaders, Dr. Roda Orme and Dr. Mary Sabry, welcomed me as someone special, a treatment I later discovered each of my classmates also received.I felt that I was a special person, privileged to be in this college and obtain a university education instead of, and I present myself as an example, someone destined to end her education in a third class elementary school.
I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to come all that way, which brings me to direct a special appeal to our universities and their administrators to give our village boys and girls, and the unprivileged sector of our Arab societies, the same opportunity to reach higher education and achieve their ambitions.We must do this because the most important help we can give our youth is the opportunity to reach their goals in life.This is especially true for our young women who have to work doubly hard to get there, starting with home and community obstacles, and increasing in the wider society where they face challenges at every step.
The role of LAU has not been limited to a traditional teaching program, however.It has also played a very important role in other fields of knowledge.In 1973 it created the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW), directed for 24 years by Dr. Julinda Abou Nasr, afterwards by Mrs. Mona Khalaf, and now by Dr. Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, who is present with us here, as the Acting Director.The Institute has expanded its activities beyond the university curriculum to join forces and interests with cultural women's activities in Lebanon and the Arab world.It has involved itself in publishing books on women's issues, especially in the fields of art, literature, education, and law, and in particular those related to women's rights, with an emphasis on those from rural areas.It has published 35 books so far.The Institute has held congresses, conferences, and lectures revolving around women in their many activities, thus attracting a wider audience than the university community and alumni.
I, as a writer who has researched the lives and careers of many of our pioneer women, wish to point out the importance of a documentary film prepared by Mrs. Mona Khalaf and her team on some of our pioneer women, their lives and their struggles, at an early period of our awakening.Further, I wish to note how we have listened with great interest to the voices of those who are still living -Emily Faris Ibrahim and Rose Ghurayyib, to name only two.[Rose Ghurayyib died in January 2006.] The Center for Lebanese Heritage that was founded in 2002 takes LAU's cultural activities to an ever-wider audience.Its active Director, poet Henri Zoghaib, is ever-busy searching to bring forth voices from the past who form the roots of our present times.
The pioneering work of LAU did not limit itself to its country of origin, but went on to cover many Arab countries.In education and the arts, childcare, and the handicapped, LAU's alumni took the University's message and established centers and institutes in their countries: Mrs. Suad Jaffali in Saudi Arabia, Princess Wujdan Nasser took care of museums and heritage in Jordan, and in Kuwait we have among us here today a shining example of suc-Allow me to start with a word of thanks to the Dubai and Northern Emirates Chapter of the Lebanese American University's Alumni Association.Chapter President Adalat Nakash and Vice President Saad El-Zein kindly invited me and gave me the opportunity to be present among you to participate in this conference on the empowerment of Arab women in various fields, such as politics, economics, and socio-cultural activities; and the role of a university in general, and LAU in particular.
Since its establishment, LAU, our university, has taken a leading and avant-garde role in Lebanon and the Arab world.In its time as the American Junior College its education was carried and spread by the early missionaries who were totally devoted to the role of teaching and rendering humanitarian services.It is important to go back to those early times and to the waves of graduates who were aware of their pioneering role, and carried with pride the enlightening message [of their education] to several Arab countries.
While researching the curriculum vitae of these pioneer women, a work published in six volumes, I was alerted to the great role that this, our university, had played in shaping these pioneers.I shall limit my mention to only a few of them, ladies whom I met and interviewed, especially those who participated in an educational mission campaign that started out from Beirut in 1937 for Mosul and Kirkuk in Iraq -big cities in rural areas.We find the graduates of the Junior College going there carrying all their knowledge of the modern fields of teaching, education, and enlightenment, with an emphasis on the role of women in the family as well as society.I shall mention as examples a few names like Anissa Najjar, Salwa Nassar, Rose Ghurayyib, Edvik Shayboob, and Najla Akrawi.To this day we are still seeking their goals: The empowerment of Arab women in the school classroom while teaching reading and writing, as well as in the home, where they instituted a new style of education that included mothers and other family members.
A few of these pioneer women told me stories of how they used to sit with the family over a cup of tea and recite poems or invent games derived from and related to familiar experiences, which permitted them to participate and express themselves in the best way.When they observed the difference in dress between the wealthy students and their colleagues who were less privileged, they decided to introduce a uniform, thus avoiding feelings of inferiority among the students.These home encounters were given the appropriate name, qubulat, which means a day at home; and with this type of encounter, education became accepted by all family members.And so instead of gossip dominating social gatherings, talk began to roam with Rose Ghurayyib around Al-Mutanabbi, and Abi Al-Ala' Al-Ma'arri and others, or with Anissa Najjar on the importance of rural revival and development.Ms. Najjar brought this idea The Role of the Lebanese American University in the

Empowerment of Women Emily Nasrallah
Writer Session III:

Empowerment of Women in Sociocultural Context
Ms. Emily Nasrallah File File File cess in the personal presence of Princess Hissah Al-Sabbah.
The early history of women's awakening in the Arab world coincided with the advance of university education.It was also connected with national movements: The great Huda Sha'rawi of Egypt, who was the head of the Arab Women's Union did not limit herself to her country of origin, but extended her hand to her sisters in most Arab countries.They all worked with great enthusiasm, meeting the need for their talents and making important contributions to the building of strong nations.
Here, I would like to point out the importance of the support of the men who stood by the pioneer women and their cause since the beginning of their struggle.One of them, and perhaps the most well-known, was Kassem Amin of Egypt.His book, The Emancipation of Women, caused a revolution at the time.In Lebanon, one of the most supportive was the writer and journalist Girgi Nicola Baz, founder of Al-Hasna' magazine as well as Mohammad Jamil Beyhoum.
Their encouragement was much needed then, and today we still need more support from men in positions of political power and decision-making to consider the importance of the presence of more women in politics as well as other public activities.We need more women judges, ministers, and members of parliaments, as well as diplomats who can reflect the image of the Arab women of today.Of course, I don't mean to deny the presence of our outstanding women political figures in many Arab countries, but their number is far lower than our aspirations.I hope the day will come when women will be judged by their capacities and qualifications not by their sex.
Earlier in my speech, I mentioned my writing about pioneer women; but I think that pioneer women are still among us, and each one of them has a story to tell.Many share the sentiments of their earlier peers, like Rose El-Yousef, who wrote in her memoirs, and I quote: "I made of myself this lady."They are proud to speak about their successes and the obstacles [they] surmounted.
My interest in researching their stories grew out of my feeling that there is a big gap between them and the generations that followed.Our young and educated women are moving with the tides of the present times, seeking success -sometimes by the shortest roads.In my book, I try to tell these younger generations to look back a little to evaluate and compare, and to realize, also, that without those pioneer women and their struggles we wouldn't be where we are now.The same can be said about all the generations who helped build and advance LAU and other universities.
But research is not my main field of writing; I am first and foremost a fiction writer.I have written novels and short stories, and later in my career I have written for children, stories as well as novels, to encourage our younger generations to read in their mother tongue.This is a big issue facing educators and parents as well: How to make children read, especially in the Arabic language.
My writing, in general, reflects my life and experiences in a traditional society, and my rebellion against prevalent traditions that keep women where they have been for too many generations.
Being a woman, it was most natural for me to write about women in my society, that is, the traditional society.
Two more themes prevail in my novels and short stories: emigration from rural areas to big cities and abroad, and the war as I witnessed and lived its events in Lebanon.Since my early days I refused to accept the prevalent traditions as they were.When my parents allowed my younger brother to leave the village and go away for his higher education and I was not allowed to do the same, I felt the unfair discrimination between the two sexes.If it were not for an emigrant uncle in West Virginia in the United States I wouldn't have been able to go to a boarding school.But the real struggle with my family came after my graduation from secondary school when I wanted to come to Beirut for my university studies.Here, I also had to surmount another obstacle: the financial part.I remember well those formative years, when I had to work and study to live in the city, always conscious that all the eyes of my village were watching my steps.Being the first girl of my generation to leave for Beirut, I carried a big responsibility, not for myself only, but for the many generations of girls who came after me.But the new feeling of independence and freedom that accompanied me that morning on my first day at this University, with the key of the boarding school (Al-Ahliah) in my pocket, will never be forgotten.On that day I learned my greatest lesson: The importance of our personal freedom, and how we should always work to help others realize it.During that same year I entered the field of journalism, and this gave me the chance to push my ambition for independence even further.During the early years of my career as a journalist I was a minority among a majority of men.In the media at that time we could count the number of women on our fingers.At the start I was the only woman working for a weekly magazine.That was not easy.Actually, it was challenging and I took the challenge with great courage as I had to prove myself at every step and assure my colleagues that I was there for a serious purpose, like themselves.
There is almost no need to mention that young women journalists are now in every scene in the media, and they have gained more confidence in themselves and in their capacities than their predecessors.LAU, in its various programs, has contributed to this as well as [to the development of other] various fields in the arts and sciences.
I feel now that we have gone far beyond the question put to me by one of my colleagues in the early years of my career as a journalist, when he asked me: "Who writes your stories?"I confess that the question shocked me.At first, I thought the fellow was joking, and then I became aware of his seriousness; and when he noticed that I did not answer his question he added: "You know, every woman writer has a ghost writer -she needs one for sure." More women are writing now, not in journalism only, but in all types of literature.Through their work they are seeking different goals, artistic as well as human.Researchers and scholars point out that women's literature in the Arab world is now surer, stronger, more polished and more committed than ever before.Also worthy of mention is that the identification of women writers as a group gives them more confidence and strength.At the same time, however, this can be negative when they are labeled as "feminist writers," as if to say they are inferior, or they belong to a different race, and this can encourage discrimination against, and even antagonism towards them.
Anyway, we are now witnessing the emergence of new women writers and scholars who are outspoken, concerned, courageous, and confident.We hope this may help to change the status of women in Arab societies.This tells us that there is more opportunity for women to express themselves, and that they have come a long way from the time when women's voices were allowed to express themselves in public on two occasions only: the exuberant chants of weddings and the sad lamentations of funerals.
In the course of my personal research into the early period of intense women's activities, several characteristics became evident: 1.The women pioneers were mainly writers who came, mostly, from the middle class in their societies.2. Much of their writing was about other women's activities, or about outstanding women in the East as well as in the West, extolling their glories and successes, with the obvious intention of demonstrating to their readers that women can be, and are, free and active leaders in their communities.3.They established contacts with colleagues and counterparts in other Arab and foreign countries, as well as in their own countries.This gave them the opportunity to exchange ideas on similar issues and conditions.It is worth mentioning here that there was always a connection between the women's emancipation movement in the West and what was -and is -happening in our Arab societies.Now let us return to the present and the continuing role LAU is playing in our modern times and world.At a meeting between the alumni and President Joseph Jabra, I learned from his welcoming speech how many dreams are still waiting to be realized.When he announced an upcoming project, a school of medicine at LAU, an alumna asked him whether there is a need for a new medical school when so many are available at other universities.Dr. Jabra answered: "We are serving the region and not one country only."Yes, indeed, hasn't this University always been serving the whole region, and since its earliest days?
This ambitious role was played by the various American and Lebanese presidents that preceded Dr. Jabbra -each one helping to foster the development and growth of LAU towards ever higher goals and a more prominent future.But no one individual, no matter how strong and capable he/she is, can run a university without a team that puts its efforts together with the head.And if the university is the legitimate child born to a civilization, I believe that no civilization can be complete without a university.In this same sense, no civilization, in any nation or history, can be realized, and take its respectful place in history, without the complete participation of its female population.
We need, more and more, to share our talents and experiences.We need to work together, to help our nations to live in the present, and to keep advancing on the roads of freedom and enlightenment.Thank You.

Being a woman, it was most natural
for me to write about women in my society, that is, the traditional society.

File File File
I'm reading a very interesting book about Francine Gomez, the head of Waterman.While she was the one who saved the company from bankruptcy, in her book Gomez testifies: "I don't know what to consider myself; outside the home I was a successful business woman with a brilliant career ahead of me.I ran a good business and did a good job."However, when it came to her family, Gomez admits that she failed as a homemaker: "My husband left me because I didn't have enough time to spend with him.My two children also left for the same reason." The life of this woman raises a very important topic: the roles of women inside and outside the home.An intelligent woman would, of course, establish an equilibrium between the "private" and the "public."At the same time, I remember a friend I met in South Africa.She was a physician and told me that during this stage in her life she had decided to spend four days at home and three days in her clinic.She knew that in the future she could go to her clinic six days a week, and she was sure that later on when her children grew up, it would be too late for her to see more of them.I think this is an example of good equilibrium between the "private" and the "public" sphere for women.
An educated woman is the most precious jewel that can be offered to the nation for building the future.However, the problem today lies with the space in which the educated woman works.Many cultural and social factors have affected women negatively, despite scientific research and development.Too often we see educational institutions pushing girls into work that is considered more proper for them than for boys, as if they were born to practice some profession that may even be inappropriate for or inferior to them.This happens despite the fact that a woman is no less competent than a man in her ability to comprehend various fields of education.They are alike.Women should have the right to enjoy life's freedom, to get an education and to work.
A study was carried out in the United States about selfconfidence; it talks about how low self-confidence is a very big problem for both men and women and how to increase it.The best ways are through education and social or work-related achievement.Women get over First I want to thank you for your presence and to thank the organizers for inviting me to this interesting forum because it deals with a very interesting subject.Now, it is common knowledge that women represent half of society, which means that society's progress is related to that of women, and vice versa.In fact, the social development of women, including higher studies, is important since educated women are symbolic of the nation as a whole.If women could have their fair share of global care and appropriate education, they would really participate in developing their narrow environments while also fulfilling their duties and entering the wider world, which would expect a lot from them.Women have lived for a long time confined to the home and held hostage by old traditions -although we have to remember that at a certain time in the past women were a very important economic element of society.The wife of the Prophet Mohammad was a business woman and the Prophet Mohammad worked for her.Thus, we should remember that in former times we were active economically and not believe what we hear now from, for example, the Taliban, who say that girls shouldn't go to school or women shouldn't go to work, or something that totally contradicts religion and Islam.
Women have participated in destroying ignorance in their societies while they have also been the innocent victims of ignorance.In some societies women have been con-sidered an unavoidable evil, a matter that no legislation or religion admits.The three monotheistic religions put women -not the women here, but rather the woman as mother -on a pedestal, indeed a very high pedestal.A Jew can not a be a Jew without a Jewish mother; the mother of Jesus, and consequently the mother of Christianity, is the Virgin Mary; and when the Prophet Mohammad was asked who his most beloved person is, he repeated: "My mother, my mother, my mother." We know from these examples how important the roles of women and mothers are.Nowadays, women are involved in all educational fields -even though they are still suffering in some backward societies -and rational people can not argue over the necessity of educating women if they are to be part of building a virtuous generation that is of benefit to their nation and humanity.As many of the modern sociologists, such as Frederick Le Play, say: "The family is the main hive, the main cell of society.Therefore, a society can not grow unless its hives unite, cooperate and are ready to work and produce competent individuals."Only an educated and cultivated woman can undertake the mission of organizing, strengthening and bonding this hive and not neglecting the spirit of the family.This woman has understood life, studied the behavior of society, and observed its past and present and looks optimistically toward its future, at last appreciating the mission her nation is expecting her to fulfill.

Endnotes
*The Kaddoura Foundation helps mothers who are heads of households in Palestine and the Palestinian camps.

Maha Kaddoura
Founder of the Kaddoura Foundation* this problem through education.Educated women represent the hope of expanding our cultures, societies and economies.An educated woman can interact with her peers and contribute positively to life.She can influence others directly through advising, informing and encouraging.Educated women make social changes and improvements through spreading democracy and emphasizing the human side in their relations with people in society.Active women can work for a more peaceful nation as well as contribute analytical logic and patience to their country.They can be very good negotiators and activists in the humanitarian field.They can be activists for democracy and humanism.
Lastly, if a virtuous generation depends on virtuous women and their ability to spread progress and refinement, a corrupted generation stems from corrupted women since the behavior of people is the result of their education.Nothing is better than educated women for building nations and developed societies on all levels.A virtuous woman is a virtuous generation.

Compiled and Translated by Myriam Sfeir
Managing Editor

Round Table
The Role of Higher Education in the

Empowerment of Arab Women
The role of higher education in the empowerment of Arab women was the subject of a round Dima Dabbous-Sensenig: The purpose of this meeting is to get your feedback on the role higher education plays in empowering Arab women.Given that we are preparing an issue of Al-Raida on this topic we would like to know: To what extent does getting a higher degree allow you to take leadership and decision-making positions?
We are interested in the position of the younger generation, your position, and the problems you are facing in terms of reaching top-ranking decision-making positions.
To what extent does higher education help you?We strongly believe that we cannot move forward if we do not identify the problems encountered.…Why did you end up in higher education?
Rana W.: Nowadays, women are more ambitious and education gives them the venue to actualize their dreams.Things have changed and life has developed.Women are refusing to stay at home and be dependent.They are asking to be equal with men.
Lara A.: Going to school and later on to university was a given.I took it for granted.It was not even a choice I had to make.Female students usually perform better than their male counterparts in schools.Yet, when it comes to the workforce women are discriminated against and paid less because it is a patriarchal society and men are considered the breadwinners in a family.Familial relations ought to be egalitarian and if there is equality at home then it makes all the difference.Women should learn how to balance their familial and professional roles.Women ought to be organized.
Zeina M.: My case is very similar to the majority of those present here.Higher education was a taken-for-granted thing to do after school.I completed a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Sociology then completed a Master's degree while working as a graduate assistant.I sometimes consider applying for a Ph.D. but somehow it seems very farfetched.Going back to being a student with all the financial burdens and restrictions this period entails is very taxing.
Being a woman is an impediment when you want to pursue higher education.Getting married is an obstacle in itself.Moreover, giving birth to children incapacitates us whether we like it or not.Women will lose out on being appointed to higher positions because of the fact that they are married or have children.

File File File
Even though higher education is always on my mind, it is a matter of priority [to me]: Do I want to pursue a Ph.D. or get married?A lot of female students of my generation went to university to kill time or to catch a husband.They were not really interested in higher education per se; higher education was a means to an end.

DDS:
To what extent are we able to reconcile our upbringing, our culture, and our role as mothers?Women are often put in situations where they have to choose between motherhood and a career.At the end of the day, when women choose to go for higher education and still be mothers they tend to do everything.Women end up with a triple burden and the load often cripples them and they collapse.So [do] you have any idea how to reconcile the role of motherhood and leadership positions?
RG: I think balancing a career and a family is very hard but it is doable.Of course each and every one of us has a capacity and it is up to us to decide if we are capable of juggling things.Achieving such an arrangement requires the collaboration and support of the husband and of the extended family.
On another level, many factors hinder women from reaching decision-making positions: the culture, the political will, how we fail to view women as capable leaders, … the undemocratic systems that we have that hinder women -people fail to choose freely.Yet when it comes to ordinary people like us I believe if women want to make it -study, work, and have a family -it is possible because I believe that where there is a will there is a way.DDS: I am 40 years old and I have a daughter from a previous marriage and I am still under pressure to have children.

MS:
What Yasmine is saying is very daring, but also there are cases where women opt by choice to stay at home and raise their children.They study and earn a degree just for self-satisfaction.I have heard very negative views about stay-in-moms.Another point is that things are definitely changing and women are putting their degree into practice and are joining the labor force.Yet, there is a very important point we have to acknowledge: The fact that cheap domestic labor is available in this country makes things a lot easier.Whether we like it or not the issue of housework is no longer discussed between couples that can afford help.Because domestic workers are available they are expected to do all the housework.Yet, supervising the house help and making sure the household responsibilities are taken care of is a woman's pre-rogative.Men no longer feel they need to help out simply because they provided their wives with a domestic worker.

YD:
The extended family also helps out in terms of raising children.Children of working mothers are often left with their maternal or paternal grandmothers.
ZM: I was raised by a working mother.She is 71 years old and is still working.We had help for a while, yet since I was six I don't recall having a live-in hired help.We had a domestic worker come in once a week to help out with the housework.Given that we are three sisters we used to attend to the household chores after school and then after work.The fact that my mother was widowed at a young age and was left with three daughters to raise was very straining and tiring.My mother would have loved to continue her higher education but it was impossible.
DDS: I would like to raise a point here: We are discussing education, higher education, and women in leadership positions.Why is higher education important for you?Is education a survival thing?How does one use one's education?What are the benefits of education?Are you working on a degree to be intellectually satisfied or does it give you a sense of independence, being part of your society and being able to change it?Why do you want to work?Does education provide you with authority?Please reflect a little bit on this point.

EG:
Women who assume a leadership role in society should be very careful when dealing with their husbands.Women should differentiate between assuming a leadership position and having authority.Women ought to know how to use the authority they have.I believe that misusing authority is counterproductive and wrong on both sides.

DDS:
Of course this is important, but I also want you to reflect on the issue and question whether this is fair.When a woman reaches a position of power in her workplace this might affect her relationship with her husband.Some husbands feel somehow threatened and fail to accept their wife's success.Is that the case when it is the other way around?I strongly believe that such an issue is raised only when it involves women.Why should that be a problem?I would also like to raise several other questions, namely: Are you planning to use your education to acquire a leadership position?Are you interested in leadership positions?How can one occupy a leadership position when you are not prepared to do so at home?When one doesn't have guidelines one has to create his/her own.Is it easy?Please reflect on your education.Does the university prepare you to assume leadership positions?You may think you are not interested in leadership positions and you believe it is not for you.If so, why is it not for you?
File File File 8 0 8 1 Dalia KS: I would like to go back to a previous point.The university is not preparing us for a career.All the material we study is so theoretical and dry.The university curricula should be more practical.I studied International Affairs and Diplomacy and all we did at university was read and read theories.When I went to apply for a job I was told I don't have any work experience….When we were at the B.A. level we acquired the theoretical knowledge needed to graduate.However, we weren't even taught how to formulate a proper questionnaire or to conduct proper interviews.I once approached one of my professors for help on an assignment.… The professor's answer was: "I don't have time to correct your analysis.My eyes are hurting me from reading.I don't want to read anymore."That incident affected me greatly.I will never ever forget it.The professor I am talking about used to make fun of us in class.

ZM:
Instead of teaching us how to better analyze, he used to Xerox our term papers, put them on transparencies and joke about our mistakes.He also preferred "cuties" over serious students -if you were a cutie you got away with murder.

DDS:
That is doing the exact opposite of what higher education is supposed to do, namely give you more selfesteem.
JSO: My questions here are the following: Are men and women equally affected by the theoretical [and] unpractical skills that they acquire from the system of higher education adopted in Lebanon?Are men, whether inside or outside higher education circles, taught to make connections [with the working world] and women are not?Let us try and factor gender into the formula.

DKS:
Many parents encourage their daughters to opt for majors that will allow them to work and raise children.
Women are encouraged to become school teachers.
Parents are indirectly destroying one's ambition.

JM:
Given that I am a Political Science student, one of the recurrent remarks I used to hear was "don't work in foreign affairs because it does not suit women."Before the law was amended, employees at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were expected to return to their country after a period of three years.Women were not encouraged to pursue such a career because when they get married how would they drag their husbands with them?
JSO: I got a job at LAU and I dragged my husband to Lebanon.

LA:
Unlike what some said, I believe that education implies economic independence.Within the family, a woman's opinion starts to matter and her voice is heard the minute she starts generating money and spending on household expenses.A lot of women are subjugated because they are economically dependent.

DDS:
How much is the university preparing you for the future and for you to have an autonomous personality?

RW:
We are hardly prepared given that the university is barely surviving.Professors are fed up with the way they are treated so they rarely show up to give their courses.
We go home and study on our own.We are not encouraged, and fail to do things from the heart.Had we been in a university that respects us it would have been a totally different story.

DDS:
Is there a difference if the professor is a male or a female?
RW: To be honest, there is no difference.It depends on the professor's personality.Dr. Fadia Hteit is very nice, she is very supportive and constantly encourages us.She feels with us and often tells us that we can be a force for change and we can change things if we try.To change things students have to be united and this is not the case; politics and religion come in and we are not a united front so I guess there is nothing we can do.
LA: Given that our department at the Lebanese University is an all-female department, we often think about what we are missing out on.For instance, we often question what it means not to have men [in our department] at the university.As female students we realize how much we need male colleagues and how much we depend on them.When we have a problem at the university, we, as women, are unable to formalize our demands and mobilize our efforts and make our voices heard.
DDS: I don't understand why that is so?
L.A: Because the mere fact that there is no mixing [between sexes] poses a problem.Had the university been a men's university the situation would not have been better.It is not that we as women are unable to do things.We can.But plans materialize when both genders are working together to reach a goal.
It makes all the difference when the university is a mixed one.From the minute you wake up to go to the university everything changes.Going to an all-women's university where there is no interaction between males and females is not healthy.When you are in a mixed environment you express yourself and your opinions differently than when you are in an all-girls' university.

YD:
Maybe when a man is present one is more selfconscious.
MH: What she is trying to say is that because they are in an all-women university they are missing out on real-life situations given that they don't interact with men.

DDS:
To what extent is your education helping you and giving you the skills to argue your point and make yourself heard?
JSO: Politics, broadly speaking, infiltrates our everyday life.There is politics at this table.The issue of power dynamics is very important where age, education, background factors, etc., all feature.I just want to raise one point [regarding the current topic]: In the United States [many assert that] female students who are enrolled in single-sex universities are much more self-confident.They are less self-conscious when arguing their position.
However, the research available as I understand it is not conclusive.
MS: I had two exchange students from Australia in my class and they were very bothered at LAU because they felt that men were invading their space.

DDS:
Please reflect on this issue of politics in the broad sense of the word where you have to share power with men, and where your aim is to change things.
LA: I need to stress a point that might have been misunderstood.When a woman graduates from an allwomen's university it does not mean that she will be less self-confident or she will be unable to deal with men in general.We all interact with men outside the university and even within the university when men come to visit us.The problem is when you lack motivation or when you no longer care about things.Let me try and explain myself better: When you attend an all-girls' university and you know that you will be seeing the 29 female colleagues you see everyday you are no longer motivated to take care of your physical appearance.At first you make an effort but then you lose interest and question what the point of dressing up nicely or wearing makeup is.So, you start looking in the mirror less and after a certain point you no longer care.You arrive at the university drained and tired and this lack of motivation becomes contagious.You lose interest in everything -your appearance, voicing your opinion, engaging in discussions, etc.
ZM: What you are trying to say is that the mere fact that there are no male students in the university renders you less interested in taking care of your physical appearance.So you mean there are no gender dynamics here, you are taking the man, not as an equal, but just as the biological opposite sex because this is where the attraction and seduction game comes in, whether consciously or unconsciously.

DDS:
The question here is: To what extent is this empowering her as an element in society who is going to move things forward?
File File File YD: I think that this is setting her role as somebody who wants to please men physically and as somebody who needs the mirror of man.Hence, one's value becomes associated with how men look at you and I don't like that.YD: I think that higher education gives you the self-confidence that a man's admiration would have given you.It provides you with an alternative to being dependent on how men look at you, and it provides you with an internal source of self-confidence.So yes, my education helped me a lot.However, many female students on campus told me that they sometimes felt that some male pro-fessors failed to see them as anything other than a physical being.I know that because I interviewed many female students while working on an article about sexual harassment at LAU.

RG:
Male teachers still look at women from the traditional point of view, namely: Is she beautiful or not?And sometimes one's grading is affected.So higher education is not serving its purpose here because higher education is supposed to give you an internal source of self-confidence and a feeling of self-worth.So, when a teacher tells you that you are the source of your grade and that your physical appearance is the reason why you took the following grade then it defeats the purpose.

JSO:
It is interesting that you made the differentiation that educators are not leaders whereas actually in my mind, I link the two directly.But that is an excellent point.
(Talking together) JM: I think universities should help their graduates secure job opportunities, especially for their female students.I know a lot of universities in the US that do this.

JSO:
In the US they now call it the "old girls' network."It used to be the "old boys'."All the men in power went to school together and keep and strengthen those relationships in their personal and business lives.Women have been trying to translate this idea into a network for women so that when, for example, my department is trying to hire a professor in political science, I try to think of all the good women that I know and -not that I'm just discriminating against men -it's just we need to encourage women who might not feel that they have a chance….

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Anita Farah Nassar has been affiliated with the Lebanese American University (LAU) since 1965, and throughout those 37 years, she has served LAU diligently.After graduating from the Beirut College for Women (currently LAU) in 1969 with a Bachelor degree, she worked at the nursery school then later joined the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) as Program Coordinator and was later promoted to Program Officer.She also received her Masters degree from this same institution after it became a full-fledged university.She currently serves as the Assistant Director of IWSAW.Given that this issue of Al-Raida investigates the role of higher education in empowering Arab women, here is what Nassar had to say about her university years.

How do you assess your university education?
What was distinctive about your university years?My university years were very enriching.During my college years, things were very different.Unlike nowadays, we didn't have much choice in terms of universities to attend and majors to select.The only two institutions that were available for English speaking students were the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Beirut College for Women (BCW).I opted for BCW because I wanted to experience the family-like atmosphere for which BCW was well reputed.Because BCW was an all girls' college that was small in size and student body, new students were very well taken care of.For instance, every three new students were assigned a senior student that we called "older sister".Among the duties of the "older sister" was to assist new students during the orientation period organized by the college.These "older sisters" toured the campus with us to help us find our way around.They also escorted us while we received proper advising and helped us with our registration.The "older sister" phenomenon was viable then, but I realize the impossibility of implementing it nowadays since the student body at LAU is over 6,000.Although the new electronic system of course registration serves the everincreasing student body, it lessens the interaction between the students, their advisors and the administration.
Even though we were pampered as students, we had very demanding professors that urged us to work hard in order to receive our degrees.My professors were my mentors.They played a major role in shaping my personality.They also instilled in me the leadership skills needed to succeed in my career.They molded me into what I am today.They believed in me, taught me everything I needed to know, and encouraged me to grow.
The administration and teaching body worked incessantly to provide us with the best possible education.Moreover, they assisted us in finding suitable jobs.I have to admit that the very challenging job offers I received were because of my university education.When the American Community School (ACS) hired me, I was the only Arab teaching there.Back then they only employed American citizens.Despite the fact that I was working in a school that applied all the new educational methodologies, I never felt at a disadvantage.I rose to the challenge and felt very confident given that I was very well prepared at BCW.There was nothing discussed or applied in early child education or elementary education that I didn't know.
One very important prerequisite for graduating at the time was that students had to complete 120 hours of community service.We were required to volunteer either in an orphanage or in a retirement home or read for the blind.This, I believe, was very essential for very many reasons.It helped develop our sense of altruism where we learned the importance of helping others.It also served to build our personalities and made us feel more responsible and needed.Moreover, it taught us the importance of solidarity.The fact that we interacted with, and were helping people who were less fortunate than we were gave us a sense of worth.We felt like we were making a difference and the fact that people depended on us made us feel very useful.It is a shame that community service is no longer a university requirement.I think it ought to be reintroduced given that it helps spread tolerance and social awareness.

How empowered did you feel after earning your degrees?
Given that I am an educator, I value education greatly and believe that it is the most important element that leads to empowerment.If I am to answer this question it is important for me to define an empowered person.An empowered person is someone who has "power-over" the decisions that impact his or her life.So when we talk about education, I believe it is bound to empower women simply because it allows people to gain control of their lives.
Studying and working in an institution that strives to empower women by educating them and encouraging them to reach decision-making positions affected me greatly.Moreover, being part of the university that founded one of the first women's institutes in the region made me value the importance of women's empowerment.
Besides, working at IWSAW in my capacity as Program Coordinator and later Program Officer allowed me to empower women by implementing the various development projects IWSAW runs, namely the Income-generating Project, the Prison Project, the Basic Living Skills Project and the Literacy Project.Thanks to these projects, The Role of LAU in Empowering Women: A Personal Experience marginalized women are being armed with the tools needed to create healthier lives for themselves, their families, and their community.Moreover, these projects help in improving the familial and economic situation as well as the lifestyle of these marginalized women.
Thanks to my university education and because of the fact that I was introduced to community service at an early stage, I was able to become a trainer and later a trainer of trainers.In my capacity as trainer of trainers, I work closely with social workers and train them on how to develop the creativity and skills of marginalized women.I also train schoolteachers on ongoing professional development and here my graduate work as well as my work experience has helped me prepare the workshops and develop the appropriate material and tools for ongoing education.It is important to note that IWSAW's Income-generating Project enabled women to find productive alternatives within their households.It also assisted women prisoners earn an income and made them feel useful.
One last point I would like to add here is that my work at IWSAW on educational and developmental projects for children and women facilitated my joining the graduate program.So I believe that my university education and work experience have helped me greatly.They shaped my personality and molded me into the person I am today.

Is there anything you would like to add?
Had it not been for my husband and children I wouldn't be where I am today.They were and still are a tremendous support.The nature of my work requires a lot of dedication and hard work on my part and they are always there to lend a helping hand.

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Anita Farah Nassar receiving her degree from Dr. Raja T. Nasr and Dr. Marie Aziz Sabri, Acting President of Beirut College for Women Anita Farah Nassar 8 7 Empowerment, a complex and relative notion, implies that there is a scale of power, and a linear progression from one end to the other.This view generally focuses on power through a modernist lens forged by postcolonial conditions in the Arab world.In undertaking the task to empower students, a responsible educator should complicate and enrich understandings of "women," "men," "gender," "Arab," and "agency." The educator needs to conceptualize the paths toward empowerment.This helps women ask why we are where we are now. 5When the women studies educator attempts to explain women's legal status or the economic or health situation in Egypt, 6 or discrimination under the law in Lebanon, 7 an emphasis on lessons learned is key.
The educated regional population does possess increased awareness of gender as a category of power and status.However pre-collegial students may not yet understand how social processes are related to gender.Gender, to them, is an XX or XY label, and not necessarily a condition that needs to be altered in their view.Or, they may perceive different versions of gender roles as cultural indicators that divide the religiously conservative from the liberal, or one nationality from another.
Other false dichotomies complicate the study of women, such as sharp contrasts between women in rural and urban settings; essentialisms of social class which fail to recognize the effects of social mobility via state mechanisms; divisions of time or history; and the treatment of Arab women as a monolithic and exceptional category.It is therefore up to educators to describe the oppression of women as a broader condition.Our students need a sense of the universal implications of gender -that the world's women are a majority of the poor and one third will be subjected to violence.Or, that two million girls under the age of 15 are forced into the sex trade each year and twice as many women as men are affected with HIV in Africa.
Basic universal definitions of empowerment often begin with educational, legal, political, and professional rights.This includes access to all professions; equivalence in salaries, opportunities for advancement, insurance and pensions; economic rights to own and dispose of property, and to pay for goods at the same rates as others.
Women seek rights over their own bodies, to receive support for women's health issues, and prosecute those who engage in domestic violence, rape, or abuse.Empowerment may involve quotas, or affirmative action policies, or may require new structures to enable implementation of protective policies, and enforcement of new laws.Teaching about these issues presents special challenges for educators in the Arab world.
Teaching and effecting the empowerment of women requires combining tools from a variety of sources.Selfempowerment is a fairly contemporary theme that seems most pronounced in Western scholarship and pedagogy.Many works of literature, biography and autobiography from the Middle East illustrate feminist self-empowerment, and the old maxim that "the personal is political."The theme of self-development has a lengthy history in Sufi philosophy and literature.The examination of family relationships that was an essential part of early women's studies is another avenue for discovery.Women conference attendees often compare and discuss their family relationships and bearing on their self-esteem and self-image.To some degree these ideas are also available in anthropological literature (Joseph, 1999 and Abu Lughod, 1986).However, the point of this literature is primarily to describe existing social relations, and not necessarily to emphasize transformation.Students are learning more about women's history in "niche" programs, 8 but mainstream education continues to ignore women's presence whether in world history, or Islamic and nationalist histories (Qassem, 2005).
Feminist process -an exercise during which group members respond to a specific statement, proposal, or question, and defer discussion until all have expressed themselves -is supposed to enhance participation and egalitarianism.While women's studies centers and NGOs may be familiar with "process," and utilize it, instructors in the Arab world are frequently too concerned with maintaining student respect, and find it risky to soften their pedagogical style.Beyond style, pedagogy is often simply absent.Educators are so exhausted with the struggle to survive professionally, that it is very difficult indeed to create the desire for lifetime learning and intellectual regeneration.
Mentoring also has important roots in both Arab and feminist cultures, and has been crucial to public activism and professional advancement.No one is born knowing how to chart a course of professional development, or how to respond to significant workplace challenges.Sometimes, women, experiencing the Darwinian dilemma themselves, may shortchange mentees or even play off protegées against each other.Yet we know that mentoring programs aid retention of women in non-traditional fields and can serve as an important source of support.Mentors can impart or demonstrate key professional skills such as public speaking, personal presentation, problem-solving, and organization.Mentoring and women's leadership programs suit both mixed-sex and single-sex university environments.
To teach about empowerment, we should effectively Sherifa Zuhur 1   Research Professor of Islamic and Regional Studies, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College

Teaching about Women and Empowerment in the Arab World
How can women's studies, and feminist theory and methodologies best serve the Arab world? 2 The region is now home to quite a few research centers devoted to gender studies and programs of instruction that were based on the relevance of feminist theory developed in and for the Arab world. 3In addition, many "gender specialists" are now employed by the numerous NGOs in the region.Still, all of these new areas of study or employment face complex challenges, especially if education is to lead to women's empowerment.
First of all, the goal of women's empowerment through education is not a given.There is a great deal of disagreement about the degree of transformation necessary or even possible in Arab society.Moreover, it is not clear to many that women are an integral part of the very fabric of society and lie at the heart of its developmental needs.Furthermore, women, are not, as is commonly believed, merely another under-represented interest group.Beyond this, another debate rages over whether women can be "mainstreamed," especially in more segregated environments.Most importantly, many forces in Arab societies oppose women's empowerment if it means changes in women's duties and responsibilities in the family.
Many women's and feminist studies programs are in their infancy, though the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University is the adult exception, dating back to the early 1970s.And, for reasons like feminism's uncomfortable "step-child" status in interdisciplinary studies and university politics complicated by post-colonialism, some theoretical and methodological aspects of empowerment remain controversial.For example, the use of comparative data, theory, and methodologies from the other regions of the world are not well integrated into regional curricula.Progressive pedagogies, effective mentoring, efforts to affect the pre-collegial curriculum, and ideas from the Western self-development and self-empowerment movements have also taken a backseat to more traditional education.The essential link between feminism and women's studies is still in question.
In my view, the most essential feminist component of women's studies, indeed, of education itself is the intent to empower.Women's studies informed by feminism centers on the empowerment of women.Ignoring the locus and workings of power uncouples feminism from women's studies, and diverts us from the very point of using gender as a category of analysis. 4  File File File communicate the ambiguities of social change.Many of us lecture and write for audiences outside of academia.Yet, our deep intellectual understanding of the mixed progress toward women's empowerment may not always help us communicate our knowledge.We need to strategically tailor our messages to the present, rapidly shifting set of circumstances.To do this, I developed a "balance sheet" for Arab women's empowerment.The incremental progress that this balance sheet has recorded over the past five years 9 is helpful in communicating ideas about women's empowerment.

Successes
• The passage of a law in Egypt in January 2001 making divorce easier and providing for family courts.These courts are to include mediators.
• Increased female enrollment and performance in educational institutions as demonstrated by statistical data.
• The incorporation of "women's voices" in society, including more attention to women's history and expression in the past and present.
• A marked decrease in the fertility rate in some urban areas of the Arab world.
• The increase of prominent women who have entered male-dominated professions, or run successful businesses (Sullivan, 1986, Al-Raida, XVI, 83-84, 1998-1999) and new networks for women in professions and business.
• The creation of numerous NGOs focused on a) creating sustainable development and income generation for women, b) eradicating girl's illiteracy and addressing the need for higher retention rates for girls in high school, and c) empowering women political candidates.
• Growing evidence that people oppose violence against women, and support legal efforts to outlaw it.
• Increasing numbers of women in politics in Morocco, Iraq, and the Palestinian Authority as well as an increase in women's interest in politics in many other places.

Ambiguous Factors
• The legalization of 'urfi marriage in Egypt as well as the increase in other informal forms of marriage.
• The increasing cost of marriage in urban areas around the region (Singerman and Ibrahim, 2001).
• The apparent significance of college degrees as qualifications for better marriages rather than correlating to more and better career opportunities for women.
• The future status of women and family law in Iraq.
• The failure of Saudi authorities to implement separate desks for women at ministries, increase women's employment opportunities, and the May 2006 decision to remove photographs of women from newspapers.

Failures
• Women were not permitted to run for office or vote in Saudi Arabia's 2005 municipal elections.
• The continued prohibition on women's driving in Saudi Arabia, and the subsequent rise in the overall number of women who lack mobility and the means to become employed (due to the cost of a car and driver).
• The practice of FGM (female genital mutilation) involves a larger number of women in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries than we thought, including northern Iraq.
• The continuing valuation of virginity and male responsibility for female sexuality means that many women are still strongly encouraged to marry instead of pursuing careers and advanced education.Others resort to hymen replacement or subterfuge to maintain their "honor." • An apparent increase in crimes of honor in both rural and urban settings.
• The thwarting of the campaign to create a civil law of personal status in Lebanon (El-Cheikh, 1998-1999, Zuhur, 2002).
• The continued existence of laws in numerous Arab states that grant citizenship on the basis of the father'snot the mother's -nationality (Botman, 1999, Joseph, ed.2000).
A contextual approach is particularly helpful in explicating "the map," which also shows that efforts to improve income and living conditions without changes in basic notions concerning gender and sex-roles do not always empower women.Such efforts formed the basis of the early social welfare and government orientations.
Some women speak of a backlash against their gains in the public space.The concept of backlash speaks to many of the ambiguities above.Economic effects and inter-relationships of social and political change can also elucidate the data and trends discussed here.Simply gaining access to educational rights does not necessarily lead to a stronger female presence in politics or in society as a whole.Wholesale changes in public perceptions of women, changes in legal rights, and the creation of women's networks and special training for political leadership are required.Changing the laws that pertain to women's bodily integrity -as in the banning of FGM in public facilities -will be ineffective if medical personnel are unconvinced of the merit of the law.

Issues of Public Space
Arab women do not function just as men do in public space (nor do Western women, for that matter) because In communities where women's university enrollment or employment is quite recent, the movement of women in the public space has been both modified and enabled by hijab-wearing and access to transportation.Research on the issues of public space, harassment, and dress sought to explain a wave of new veiling that coincided with a growth in religiosity (Rugh, 1984, Zuhur, 1992, MacLeod, 1991, Hammami, 1990, Brink and Mencher, eds.1997, Bahgat, 2001).
The hijab has been voluntarily adopted by millions of Muslim women.It is not clear precisely how many women decide to wear the hijab as a result of peer pressure, direct contacts with religious organizations, or on the basis of individual motivations.Today, it is the niqab, or face mask that is the more recent sign of religiositythe hijab alone is deemed insufficient.This trend is most common in the Gulf states, but also appears in Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq.One interesting point for teaching about empowerment: while the hijab (or niqab) has not prevented men from harassing women in public space, it has increased the vulnerability of unveiled women.Moreover, anyone now instructing Muslims addresses at least some students wearing hijab who may differ with the instructor's, class's, or literature's approach to veiling.
While in the United States most teach that Saudi women's inability to drive is a marker of disempowerment, should we apply apologetics in the region?The 1990 driving demonstration by 47 Saudi women resulted in their punishment, and not the lifting of the ban.One wrote: Sometimes I wish that I never went to school or learned anything so I would not see the unfairness and the wrongdoing and not be able to do anything about it, and most of all, so I would not know that I do not have rights.
(Austin Peace and Justice, January 16-22, 1990 and reprinted May 1991) Today, Saudis are still proposing modifications for the introduction of female driving.In Iraq, militants have attacked women who drive.In other areas of the Arab world, women's driving has clearly enhanced their career opportunities.

Political Rights
Students understand that political rights for women mean, at a minimum, suffrage and the right to run for office, and to be appointed in non-elected governmental positions.Still, simply electing or appointing women is insufficient, for without politicians and officials who consider the effects of various policies, laws and measures on women's status, no cohesive headway toward social change or reform will ensue.Some female politicians and decision-makers may be as ambivalent toward the empowerment of women as their male counterparts, yet others (who may influence male counterparts) are responsive to the concerns of poor and illiterate women as well as the educated and to the increasing number of woman-headed households in various districts.
By 2005, women in Bahrain and Qatar had achieved the vote.Women in Kuwait campaigned for suffrage and demonstrated wearing pale blue clothes.They finally won the right to vote in May 2005, the culmination of efforts started following the Gulf war (Reeves, 1999, Severeid, 1999; al-Mughni and Tetrault in Joseph, ed.2000, p. 255).Saudi women have been disappointed by their continued denial of political rights, and it is hoped that a government campaign to increase the numbers of female identification card holders and provide separate polling facilities will pave the way for women's participation in the 2009 elections (Zuhur, 2005b, pp. 33-34).
Women elsewhere have turned their attention to the issue of women and political leadership.Lebanese proponents of female political leaders have noted problems that stem from women's gender socialization.These problems exist in a political environment in which egalitarianism is included in the national constitution but largely does not exist (Mobassaieh, 2000).
In Egypt, the National Council for Women cooperated with the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights to groom and prepare women for the 2000 election (Zuhur, 2001, Elbendary, October and November 2000).Of 120 women, only seven were elected.It seems that education, family support, social status, and to some degree, economic status are initial factors explaining why so few women won.Considering this, the decision to support "quotas," or seats reserved for women at a minimum number in Morocco, thanks to support from the Palace, and in Iraq, a compromise with women politicians that was backed by the Coalition Transitional Authority have been important and positive steps toward women's empowerment.
File File File 9 0 9 1 Probably the most difficult questions for educators go beyond the numbers of women in politics and concern democratization's benefits as they impact women.Etatism, or state-led reform, has thus far led to more political action benefiting women than we may see with democratization if it empowers larger blocs of Islamists or conservatives (presuming that the latter two groups are less supportive of or are against feminist reforms).Statesponsored feminism has been a major focus in materials written about the Arab world (Najjar, 1988;Kandiyoti, 1991;Brand, 1998; Joseph, ed.2000; Al-Ali, 2000, Charrad, 2001).Scholars have also held that feminist reforms which lack grassroots support may be the cause of popular backlash.

Legal Reforms
In the area of legal reform, significant steps have been taken toward the empowerment of women, or at least toward more equity.Still, progress in this area has been complicated by the long historical debate over secularism versus religiosity in public life and the complicated derivation of civil laws from various codification systems.In some cases, there has been a failure to create civil laws, while in others, the success of new modifications is not entirely complete.And, with regional Islamization, it is no longer a given that civil law benefits women more than a reinterpreted, or "reformed" shari'a system -even educators are divided on this issue.
Lebanon granted women the right to vote in 1953.The delicate balance between the various confessional groups in the country is formalized in the Taif Accord that ended the civil war.The accord also paradoxically calls for the reduction of sectarianism.Sectarianism has a direct bearing on women's issues as it empowers religious leadership, who too often seek to prevent inter-religious marriages and maintain control over personal status (divorce, marriage, adoption, inheritance, and custody).
The Egyptian parliament passed a new law affecting divorce after lively debates and allegations of political steamrolling, and President Mubarak signed it on January 29, 2000.Following a failed intervention by an arbiter for each side in accordance with a Quranic principle (Surah IV:35), divorce may be granted in three months and is to be irrevocable.The new law prevents men from divorcing their wives without immediately informing them (talaq alghiyabi).This reform kindled a certain degree of backlash, however.It provides a method for women to divorce regardless of the legal grounds for their action so long as they forfeit monetary compensation and the traditional gifts given.This so-called khul' law also created a family court that was to facilitate divorce cases as well as a family insurance plan.Among the reform's architects was Mona Zulficar who had earlier identified many discriminatory aspects of laws in Egypt (Zulficar, n.d.).
Debates concerning the laws of personal status first emerged in the nineteenth century when the customs of female seclusion and the lack of education for women were also questioned.The Ottoman Empire issued two imperial edicts allowing women to sue for divorce on limited grounds in 1915 and codified family law in the Ottoman Law of Family Rights in 1917.Subsequent laws were passed in Egypt in 1920 and in 1929 broadening the grounds for divorce by incorporating principles outside the Hanafi legal school.Women could obtain a divorce under certain conditions: if they were deserted, mistreated, denied financial maintenance, or if their husbands were imprisoned or had a serious contagious disease (Esposito, 1982, pp.53-55).Other proposed but rejected reforms would have allowed women to write clauses into their wedding contracts restricting their husband's right to take another wife.
Subsequent efforts ensued in 1971, due in part to the efforts of the Minister of Social Affairs, 'A'isha Ratib.Special reforms affecting divorce, custody, and retention of the family home were eventually decreed by President Anwar Al-Sadat in 1979 during a parliamentary recess, and then later passed by the legislature -these were dubbed "Jihan's laws" after First Lady Jihan Sadat (Zuhur, 2001).However, because of their extra-parliamentary method of legal passage, the Higher Constitutional Court declared these reforms to be unconstitutional in 1985.
The 1979 personal status reforms had incorporated new grounds for divorce by a woman if her husband took another wife without her consent.Additionally, she was to be informed if her husband divorced her and allowed to obtain a notarized certificate of divorce.The divorced wife could keep the custody of her children until the ages of 10 for a boy and 12 for a girl.She could be awarded the family apartment as a residence until she remarried.These reforms permitted female employment so long as it did not interfere with their "family duties" and ended the practice of bayt al-ta'a (house of obedience) wherein the husband could imprison his wife at home until he obtained her "obedience."The 1985 retraction of these laws undid these reforms.
Unfortunately, the Egyptian reforms of 2000 are not a civil law in the most complete sense as they do not apply to Coptic women.The Church has long refused to recognize divorces that did not involve grounds of adultery and has denied couples who were divorced in "civil" proceedings the right to remarry (Zuhur, 2001 Lastly, the 2000 reforms brought a legal status to `urfi marriages.Such marriages, contracted via simple oral agreement or written contracts were practiced in Egypt since the 1940s but have never been considered legitimate marriages implying transference of property, duties of financial support or inheritance.Growing in popularity due to the high cost of nikah marriage (Singerman in Singerman and Hoodfar, eds.1996), couples increasingly resorted to `urfi marriages.These marriages sidestep family authority (Mutawwi`, 2000) and were critiqued for their similarity to muta' (temporary) marriage (Zuhur, 2003(Zuhur, , 2006) ) known as sigheh in Iran (Haeri, 1989) or the so-called "visiting" marriages authorized by some Sunni clerics.The press attacked "deviant" youth and women who participated in `urfi marriages, who were endangering the entire social fabric of virginity, honor, and chastity (Abaza, 2001).Some women married four to six men through 'urfi (al-Ahram, March 22, 1999; and al-Akhbar, September 28, 1999) though a few men outdid them with scores of `urfi wives.Since the passage of this law, Hind El-Hinnawi filed a paternity suit against actor Ahmed El-Fishawi and although theirs was an `urfi marriage, she won her case based on a DNA test.In teaching about such unions, one needs to convey that alternative modes of patriarchal control, such as these more informal unions, may socially or legally disadvantage women.

Violence against Women
Violence against women bridges the areas of women's legal and bodily rights.It will be up to the next generation of women activists to create conditions in which women are free of physical violence -whether beatings by their husbands, honor crimes, rape, or FGM.Ongoing denial of violence complicates discussion as well as lingering beliefs that it affects lower class women, not elites, or that types of violence, like FGM are irrelevant to women in areas where this custom is not practiced.Reformers who attempted to address FGM, like other versions of violence against women, thought that education and modernization could resolve these issues.
Legal reform by itself also presents a false solution.The death of an eleven-year-old girl in Cairo in 1999, despite the ban on FGM being performed in public health facilities, illustrated the complicity of the medical profession, and the inadequacy of legal change on its own.Female circumcision, just like the preservation of virginity until marriage, is believed to be a "good tradition" 10 because it controls both female sexuality and the designation of paternity.Women as well as men support the tradition, even though the practice is harmful to women's reproductive and psychological health.The medical establishment in Egypt has not educated doctors about the negative effects of FGM.Some reformers called for "medicalization" of FGM, meaning that the main problem was infection at the hands of non-professionals (barbers, midwives) and that in hospitals and clinics infection could be controlled.A scandal ensued after CNN aired coverage of a young girl undergoing FGM in Egypt.The official fiction that the practice was primarily conducted by those of rural origins and was dying out had been challenged directly.The minister of health then imposed a ban on FGM in public places, and despite serious legal challenges which overturned the ban for a time, it was re-upheld.A Task Force on FGM has engaged in a multi-pronged campaign against the practice (Seif al-Dawla in Ilkkaracan, ed.2000) but its efforts have been hampered by tradition.
Truly changing minds would necessitate educating the public through the discussion of sexual issues in the media and in schools.
Researchers previously estimated that 50-60% of Egyptian women have been circumcised.However, a 1995 EDHS (Egypt Demographic Health Survey) showed that 97% of Egyptian women who have been married ("ever-married women" including divorcées and widows) are circumcised (Zanaty, et al 1996;Guenena and Wassef, 1999).And, while many women in the Mashreq have complained that this practice does not impact them, in fact Bedouin women are circumcised in the Sinai peninsula and the Negev, as are some women in the Gulf, and a large number of Iraqi Kurdish women (Irin, 2005).
The discussion above illustrates the challenge of teaching about issues of women's bodily rights.Not all institutions protect academic freedom.Students may challenge educators whom they regard as critiquing the morality of their society.Perhaps what should be emphasized is the hypocrisy of a moral system allegedly designed to protect its members but which in fact victimizes them.
It is due to the import of the cultural code of sexual honor and the value granted to virginity and chastity that hymen replacement (to ensure "virginity" at marriage) occurs all over the Arab world as do honor crimes.Campaigns waged to alter the penal codes, notably in Jordan, are very relevant to the issue of women's empow-File File File 9 2 9 3 erment.Unfortunately, this campaign has ran into a backlash, and in any case, has only been able to address the aftermath of such crimes in its effort to mandate more severe penalties (Zuhur, 2005).
Where Arab women stand on protections against rape and other forms of violence against women is also relevant.Rape laws invoking the traditional concepts of honor and family ownership of women's bodies have been codified by the state, but not always to women's best advantage.In addition, women's testimony is often doubted, and women are held accountable for their own victimization.Even with witnesses, as in the 'Ataba bus case in Cairo where a girl was raped despite her conservative dress style, and her mother's presence at the bus station, the judge rebuked the victim for not wearing the hijab, although he did note that she had worn a long skirt.In other cases, as a result of their understanding of the law, police have often attempted to force the victim to marry the rapist (Sonbol, in Ilkkaracan, ed.2000, Zuhur, 2007).The steady pursuit of justice has not yet taken place, and the double standard guiding men's versus women's sexual behavior remains in place, though some efforts are being made to create shelters for women and programs to serve rape and abuse victims.

Conclusion
There are many additional important issues and related examples that can be used for the teaching of women's empowerment in the Arab world.Given more space, we could address women's literary and cultural expressions and their impact on the road to empowerment.These, too, have mixed effects, if, for instance, we consider the great popularity of women in entertainment, who appear empowered and influential, but may not be.One only need think of the 2003 death of Tunisian pop singer, Zikra, at the hands of her husband.However, in briefly reviewing some remaining obstacles to empowerment, I want again to point out that education (sometimes limited only to literacy) and modest income-generating projects are clearly insufficient to bring about a much higher quality of life for women of the Arab world, which should be our aim.
Teaching about empowerment in ways that strongly emphasize self-empowerment puts the whole process into a more positive light.Here, women's life-stories, such as the memoirs written by Leila Ahmed (1999), Hanan Ashrawi (1995) and Fay (Afaf) Kanafani (1999) can play a role like that of women's literature (Arebi, 1994, and too many others to list).By grasping the workings of self-empowerment in the lives of prominent women, we can encourage students to change their own lives through self empowerment.Women's studies in the West gave some special attention to the topic of self empowerment, but some of these have been trivialized.Those of us who come from positions of little power must alter our consciousnesses and levels of self knowledge in order to effectively utilize our connections, and deal with heightened social challenges or severe setbacks in our own uneven individual progress toward empowerment.Recognition of the effects of patriarchy on our own lives and learning to think in a liberated manner are difficult but useful achievements.We can thereby gain confidence to break boundaries, to create, and to empower.
The arduous task of self-empowerment differs from quotidian efforts to chronicle women's gains and losses through public policies and reform.But these complement each other.Without movement toward equivalent legal rights, access to public space, and political influence for all women, individual women have little hope of further expanding their individual rights.Self-empowerment is necessary, as is effective coordination of our various efforts to further women's empowerment overall.

Endnotes New Section in Al-Raida
As of the forthcoming issue, a new section will be introduced titled 'Letters to the Editor'.Please send your comments to al-raida@lau.edu.lb 9 6 9 7 Another added burden that women must bear is the set of informal rules and societal norms regarding dress code.Practically all Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip are veiled, in contrast to the West Bank, where there is a much greater degree of freedom in the choice of what to wear.In more socially conservative Gaza, the hijab has been tied to the political situation.Women who are veiled are deemed more patriotic.Palestinian women that don a veil are considered more pure and upright than the "morally loose" women of Tel Aviv.As a result, there is an intense but subtle pressure on Gazan women to dress conservatively, even today.
Overpopulation in the Gaza Strip has a disproportionately adverse effect on women.It is not uncommon to see families of 15 or 20.Often, the burden for taking care of the family falls squarely on the mother and eldest daughters, since the men in the family are most often in school or at work.School dropout, which is closely related to child marriage, affects girls more than boys.According to the Palestine Economic Research Institute and the World Bank, "males have higher enrollment rates than females at the upper secondary level in refugee camps and villages, but equal rates in the cities" (Diwan & Shaban, 1999, p.160) Looking at the Gaza Strip from a long-term economic perspective, one of the most serious issues is the continued high rate of population growth.As it is, there are not enough jobs to go around and the education system is already at or above capacity.Scarce water resources will become even scarcer.Already miserable living conditions will become even more unbearable.Unemployment will reach staggering levels.The Palestinian government could simply impose a one family one child policy but such an authoritarian solution could unseat an already unpopular government.In any case, such a policy would be unrealistic since it is in the government's best shortterm interest for Gazans to have as many children as possible.Moreover, such a solution would do little to improve the comparatively weaker position of women in society.A much more rational and sustainable solution would be to implement a scholarship program for girls.

Policy Parameters
To We will want to target our group more narrowly by including only those girls that belong to households living on $2 a day or less.According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), 33% of Gazans live on the equivalent of $2 a day. 1 Taking this percentage and applying it to the 75,000 figure results in 24,750 girls that would qualify for the program.Therefore, the target group would include roughly 25,000 beneficiaries.
The program itself will award a small scholarship of $5 a month for 10 months a year ($50 a year for each student).We will discuss how we arrived at this figure later.
It will be a four-year trial program and if funding is available and the project is a success, it can be renewed.
Ideally, however, one will want to incorporate self-sustaining elements into the program so that no further implementation will be necessary.The girls will be encouraged to share their new-found knowledge with their younger sisters and younger classmates.Moreover, it is hoped that a large percentage of these girls will become future leaders in their communities and help create their own poverty alleviation programs.
Another aspect of the scholarship program will be to introduce some urgently needed girls-only classes.In this sense, it will differ from other scholarship programs that have been tried around the world.Such classes will include health education, family planning, self esteem and for the 14-and 15-year-olds, perhaps even agricultural extension classes.In such an impoverished and densely populated area as the Gaza Strip, classes like this are crucial for the future well-being of Palestinians in this region.Quantifying the cost of such courses is a difficult task, but one could come up with a figure that includes teachers' salaries, textbooks, and other school supplies.It should be quite feasible either to train existing teachers or employ two new teachers at each school within a modest budget.The teachers should be dynamic, enthusiastic and highly competent, drawing from the wealth of talent of expatriate nationals and other international candidates, who, in some cases, could volunteer their time.
In terms of geographic location, the program will be broadly based.There are eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, where 39% of the total population of 440,000 Palestinians lives (CIA, 2000; Le Monde Diplomatique, 2000).According to PCBS, there are 538 schools in Gaza, including 326 "basic" schools (grades 1-10, ages 6-15), which include girls in the target group.In 1995-1996, there were 305,324 students in Gaza at the pre-tertiary level (PASSIA).If we return to the figure of 75,000 girls

Faris Khader
Coordination Specialist, UNDP, New York

A Scholarship Program in the Gaza Strip: A Practical Approach to Female Empowerment
Like many Palestinians, 32-year-old Manzur calls Gaza a prison, the biggest in the world.He lives a short distance from Gaza City in Beach Camp, home to 50,000 refugees.True to its name, the camp is by the sea, but even the beach here is blighted by the squalor and overcrowding.
Manzur is lucky to have a job, as a hotel security guard, but earns too little to buy a flat or hope to attract a bride.He lives with his parents, four sisters, eight brothers and a grandfather.They share four rooms between them (The Guardian, July 27, 2000).
This story is all too common in the Gaza Strip.Large families, low incomes, poverty, high levels of unemployment, inadequate access to safe drinking water, low levels of infrastructure, low quality health care, and government corruption all plague this tiny strip of land on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean.Factor in the persistent lowscale warfare and it becomes apparent that this is a very difficult place in which to live.Many of these issues require immediate attention.The peace process is ongoing, the international community has contributed large amounts of aid to bolster the Palestinian economy, and international development organizations such as the UN and the World Bank have implemented projects to address Gaza's most pressing needs.However, it is also necessary to take a longer-term approach and, in this regard, one may legitimately ask what the costs and benefits are of implementing a scholarship program for girls in the Gaza Strip?An equally valid question is what modifications of this successful policy idea, which has already been tried in Guatemala, are required to transplant it to the Gaza Strip?

Introduction
Women living in the Gaza Strip face unique challenges.
There is a problem of child marriages, in which girls as young as 12 are compelled to marry men in their twenties to reduce the family's financial burden.Honor killings, though rare, do occur in some isolated villages.If a woman is suspected of having an extramarital affair or an indecent relationship with someone outside of marriage, a member of her family will kill her in the name of "family honor."In the most extreme cases, even if a woman is raped, her brother or father will kill her, rather than seek punishment for the perpetrator."Many men who commit honor killings cite the Qur'an, but most scholars say there is no justification in Islam for these crimes.They are a manifestation of the social pressures of traditional societies, which hold that women are the property of the family, whose honor rests on their obedience and virginity" (New York Times, November 12, 2000).

Special Features
that are between the ages of 12-15 and assume that 90% of them attend school (which is the national average for primary and lower secondary levels), this results in 67,500 girls in the target age range that attend one of the 326 basic schools (Diwan & Shaban, 1999, p.160).Thus, the per-school enrollment average is 207 girls in the target age range.The program could be implemented at all 326 basic schools.Targeting the poorest third would reach roughly 70 girls at each school, for a total of 22,820 beneficiaries.The remaining 2,180 girls that are still eligible should be drawn from the 2,500 or so girls between the ages of 12-15 that are not attending school.
Apart from being between the ages of 12 and 15 and in a household that lives on $2 a day, another requirement for participation in the program will be a parental signature on a waiver, disallowing marriage until the girl's 16th birthday.The contract could be legally binding so that even if the girl withdraws from the program and gets married, the parents would still be liable and could be taken to court and fined.Granted, it would be difficult to enforce such a policy, but not impossible; it would require the cooperation of the Palestinian legal system.An emergency fund of $1 million could be set up for potential legal costs and other miscellaneous expenses associated with the program.But it should be clear to all program officials that the emergency fund is to be used only in dire circumstances.One way to cut costs would be for the lawyers representing the schools to be unpaid.
There remains one last issue: In what form and in what way will the scholarship award be given to the girls' families?The girls could receive the payments at school following parental approval of admission into the program.Members of the administration could give the eligible students cash, which they would then be responsible for handing over to their parents.Or, if parents preferred, they could come to the school in person to claim the award.This method uses an existing bureaucracy (school administration) to deal with the logistics of handing out the award.Keeping a careful record of eligible students will incur administrative costs.The program will also require a highly competent project manager at the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) who has a strong finance and accounting background, and whose integrity has never been questioned.The UNDP already has an office in Gaza City, and this could serve as the central source of funding for the project.The salary of the project manager should not be overly inflated.If other UNDP staff members are needed, volunteers could be drawn from the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) program.
Admittedly, in practice, it will be difficult to know exactly which families are living on $2 a day.Visiting refugee camps will help alleviate this problem.If there is an over-whelming demand to participate in the program, then the UNDP may want to consider expanding the breadth of the project, either incorporating a higher percentage of girls in the target age range or including higher grade levels, contingent on its ability to gather more funds.It would be useful to include community groups and parent committees in deciding which girls should receive an award.Particularly in a period of closure, it is crucial to identify which girls belong to families that have fallen beyond the reach of a safety net.Local community groups and NGOs can help in this process.Whenever possible, existing household surveys conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics should be used.
One hopes that the information gathered contains the specific names of families who are below the poverty line.

Potential Benefits
Many potential benefits could accrue, and not just to girls and women but to broad segments of society.These include a lessening of the problem of child marriage, a drop in the total fertility rate with positive effects on limiting overpopulation, a decrease in school dropout among girls, an increase in women's labor force participation rates and earnings, a reduction in infant and child mortality, a decrease in maternal mortality, as well as intergenerational educational benefits.A scholarship program for girls could also potentially improve family health and nutrition and even result in significant environmental benefits.One could also argue that educated women would no longer tolerate such outdated customs as honor killings and a dress code.Having learned that there are alternatives, these young girls would grow up into women that fight for their legal and social rights.
Mitigating the problem of child marriage alone would be reason enough to implement a girls' scholarship program.Parents would no longer want to marry off their daughters if someone else was able to pay for their education expenses.Moreover, as part of the program, school officials and community leaders should explain the importance of girls' education to the parents.Presumably, the parents will be receptive if they have their children's best interests in mind.
Reducing the total fertility rate will be crucial if Palestinians in the Gaza Strip want a higher standard of living.The current rate of 6.55 is not sustainable (CIA, 2000).Empirical evidence suggests that there is a strong correlation between a woman's education level and the number of children she chooses to have (Appleton & Collier, 1988, p.567).The more highly educated a woman is, the fewer the number of children she is expected to have.The argument is that receiving an education creates more of an opportunity cost for having a large family.Instead of caring for children, the woman can be doing other things, like engaging in income-earning opportunities.Here, a potential benefit could be an increase in the number of female teachers, for which there is currently a need.Across the West Bank and Gaza, less than 1% of school teachers hold an M.A. or higher degree, about 40% hold a B.A. or Higher Diploma, and roughly 59% have a qualification lower than B.A. (PAS-SIA).So there is definitely scope for some of these girls to enter the teaching profession.A second part of the argument is that well-educated parents will focus more on the quality of their children rather than the quantity.
Lowering the dropout rate of girls will only have positive effects on society.At school, the girls can learn valuable tools that they can later apply as they become functioning and productive members of society.They can work on farms, at schools, in local businesses, or become ministers in the government.Currently, far too few women are contributing to economic growth in Gaza.They are making dresses or baking bread, but with a solid education, they could make a far greater contribution by, for example, helping to participate in the peace process.
Finally, with increasing levels of education, especially knowledge of health care, women are more likely to take steps to reduce child mortality, be healthy during pregnancy, and ensure adequate nutrition for their family.Taken as a whole, such informed nurturing could have highly beneficial effects for Palestinian society in Gaza.A healthier labor force would be more productive.Higher productivity in turn would lead to higher levels of economic growth which, with the right choice of microeconomic policies, could help lift some of the poor above the poverty line.Additionally, one should not downplay the role of educated women in seeking an end to restrictive and parochial traditions such as honor killings and dress code.

Potential Costs and Reasons Why the Program Could Fail
One can identify five factors, none of which are insignificant, that could prevent the full success of the project.These include a cultural factor, the political situation, government unwillingness to approve such a project, a poorly chosen scholarship amount (either too large or too small), and a potential backlash by men or Muslim leaders.Also, one may legitimately ask what would happen if the girls drop out of school after the scholarship program?
There is a question of whether a higher level of education among girls would necessarily decrease fertility rates or whether culture would offset such an effect.Arab culture places a strong emphasis on having a large family.This has been compounded in Gaza by the political situation, which leaders have used as a reason to call for a demographic struggle against Israel.However, there is evidence that well-educated middle-class Palestinian families have fewer kids than refugee families.Therefore, one can guess that the education factor overrides the cultural factor in the choice of how many kids to have.
The political situation is a major quandary.It is not uncommon for schools to entirely close down during periods of clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths.If, during the course of a year, schools are out of session more often than in session (which happened often in the late 1980s) then a scholarship program would be of little use.
To a large extent, the program assumes healthy relations between the Palestinians and Israel, which may not be a realistic assumption in the short term.
Government recalcitrance poses a third challenge.This problem ties into the cultural aspect.The Gaza Strip is a highly patriarchal society.The government, which is made up largely of men, may not buy into the idea of favoring girls' education over that of boys'.Overcoming this obstacle would require successful negotiation between the UNDP project manager and the Minister of Education.If the manager can successfully convince the minister of the potentially large economic benefits of the policy, then there should be no problem in obtaining government approval, which is required for practically every development project.
Next there is the question of whether $5 a month is an appropriate amount.In Guatemala, "$4 increased girl's attendance by at least 23% and reduced the dropout rate at least by half in the pilot project" (World Bank, 2000).The rationale for the stipend was that: a) it would not be greater than the family's income, b) it would be less than the capability of the girl to generate income through her own work, and c) it would cover minimum needs to compensate a girl's family for her lost labor income and the cost of school supplies without establishing a dependency on the stipend.GNP per capita in Guatemala is $1660 (World Bank, 2000 young teenage girls?In Gaza, even though GNP per capita is lower than in Guatemala, it is likely that the opportunity cost of sending a girl to school is higher because of child marriage.Also, the Guatemala project was implemented in 1996 and the $5 takes inflation into account. A negative externality that could arise is a backlash by either men or Muslim leaders.Either before the program is in place or once it is implemented, men may raise objections to the project.If there is a perceived sense that the project runs against the grain of Palestinian society then men may not allow their daughters to participate.In Bangladesh, following the establishment of micro-credit programs for women, there appears to have been an increase in the incidence of domestic violence (Schaffner, 2000).One may well ask if such an unintended consequence may occur in Gaza if, for example, husband and wife disagree on the merits of the program.However, there do not seem to be any negative repercussions associated with existing programs that specifically help women.
Another possible concern is that well-off families who send girls to private schools will transfer their girls to public schools.However, there are only 11 private schools in the Gaza Strip (PASSIA).Moreover, there is such a huge discrepancy in the quality of education between private and public schools that a $5 monthly scholarship is unlikely to change behavior.On average, there are 45 students per class in Gaza.In private schools, there is nearly one student per teacher (PASSIA).This raises a new question.Is the quality of education in Gazan public schools high enough to result in all of the aforementioned intergenerational benefits?The assumption is that learning does occur and that school is a pleasant experience, despite the overcrowded classrooms.Needless to say, the Palestinian Authority will still have to invest heavily in building more schools.
If girls drop out of school once the scholarship program is over, then the objectives of the program may not be met.UNDP staff should closely monitor what happens to the graduates.It is quite possible that the program will only have the effect of delaying child marriage by a couple of years rather than reducing it.In this case, fertility rates would probably remain quite high and women's workforce participation would remain low.The host of spillover effects associated with girls' education would not be realized.However, if the program is designed the right way, then the girls would have an improved sense of self and would have learned specific skills that could help them gain employment, or at least move to places that do have employment possibilities.

Conclusion
Implementing a scholarship program for girls in the Gaza Strip could result in important long-term benefits.The purpose of the program, to improve women's standing in society and to reduce fertility rates, requires the endorsement of the government and key decision-makers within households (often men).If this is accomplished, then the policy will likely increase attendance and reduce the dropout rate, as it already has in places like Guatemala.Quite possibly, the program will also help reduce child and maternal mortality and help improve family health and nutrition.In turn, these positive spillover effects will result in higher levels of economic growth and productivity.
One must keep in mind, however, that even if fertility rates go down, quality of life may not improve.For one, 50% of the population is under the age of 15 (CIA, 2000).Richard Gwyn of the Toronto Star points out that "in Gaza, the median age (or the age of most of the people) is now an incredible 14.4 years" (October 13, 1999).To a large extent, Gazans will have to ride out this age bubble and hope that water access, infrastructure and education will expand to accommodate these increasing pressures.
Complementary investments in social services are therefore essential.Unfortunately, it is not at all apparent that the government is up to this challenge."The Palestinian Authority is riddled with corruption.Its management of the economy has largely followed an unhealthy pattern of protectionism, nepotism and the multiplication of lucrative monopolies that scares off most potential investors."(Wilkinson & Curtis, 2000).The sad truth is that misery and suffering will probably pervade Gaza for years to come.A scholarship program is merely a step in the right direction.Akrawi goes on to sum up Ghurayyib's qualities as a student at AJCW: [Rose had] an absolute honesty that knew no compromise, great modesty to the extent of self-effacement, a brilliant and universal mind that harvested all the scholarly rewards without any trace of self-consciousness or pride.If you add to this fact that we all loved her, and because of some subtle finesse of her personality, were never jealous of her, you might get a glimpse of the unique person that is Rose Ghurayyib (Sabri, 1967, p. 71).

Rose Ghurayyib's Long Career in Education
Rose Ghurayyib's career as an educator started in 1927 when she established and headed the Damour Elementary School in her home town.In 1931, she moved on to teach at the American School of Sidon.It was then that she decided to continue her higher education at the AJCW.Anissa Najjar, another close friend of Ghurayyib and an AJCW alumna, described her as follows: She was a serious, dedicated, and studious young lady.She barely had any time to stop and speak to anyone.Her outstanding intelligence attracted us, Najla Akrawi, Salwa Nassar, 6 and myself.We appreciated her and we all became good friends.Fate reunited the three of us in 1937 as teachers in Mosul at the Iraqi Ministry of Education (Natadhakar Rose Ghurayyib, 2006, p.17). 7   According to Marie Sabri 8 : Rose was invited by the Iraqi Ministry of Education to go and teach in Mosul's Secondary School for Girls.Being interested in the new development and re-awakening of Iraq, especially in the field of women's education, Rose felt the urge to answer the call and be among the pioneers who offered their services for such a worthy cause (Sabri, 1967, p. 72).
When Ghurayyib was asked to recall her many experiences related to her trips to Iraq between 1937 and 1941, she answered with a smile: In the early 1900s, when young women rarely had access to education, Rose Ghurayyib's strong belief in women's right to enlightenment enabled her to pursue higher studies and spread progressive education among young Arab women and girls.

Home, Schools, and Higher Education
Rose Ghurayyib was born in 1909 in Damour, a small town on the coastal road to south Lebanon, and she spent most of her childhood there.In an interview conducted at the Yasou' Al-Malak convent on August 30, 2000, 1 Rose said: All my life was a struggle.Since childhood I felt alone.
Having had only brothers and no sisters made me feel that I was on my own.My brothers, Michel and Antoine, were very good to me.They gave me freedom of choice and never interfered in any decision pertaining to my pursuit of a good education or a career as an educator.My father, Salim Ghurayyib, and mother, Hneini Aoun, always supported girls' education and sent me to good schools.Later on, when I became a young woman, they never objected to the fact that I wanted to venture into higher education, but when I decided to leave my hometown of Damour in 1930 and head to the capital, Beirut, to the American Junior College for Women (AJCW) 2 in Beirut [currently the Lebanese American University], my father and mother expressed their worry that higher education could hinder my marriage opportunities.I convinced them that marriage was not as important as education (R. Ghurayyib, personal communication, August 30, 2000).
Ghurayyib's passion for education and her gratitude to those who opened the way for her to realize her dream are expressed in her handwritten, undated, and unpublished short autobiography: My life, character, and education were influenced by three sources.The first was my home.I took the love for work and the will to dare to experience new things from my mother.I took the ability to criticize, analyze, and yet to be tolerant from my father, and the love of reading and Lebanese folklore from both.The second source was the schools I attended.I was only four years old when I started learning both languages, French and Arabic, at the elementary level at the Damour convent school.Education then was based only on rote learning.I continued my secondary education at the American School of Sidon where I was exposed to English and to a progressive system of education.The third source was in Beirut where I spent stay overnight in Damascus, Syria, in a hotel.At that time it was unacceptable for girls to travel unaccompanied, and to spend a night at a hotel was even worse.I did not sleep all night fearing that I would be robbed.I guess we were young, full of enthusiasm, determination, and we dared to travel to different places for a good cause (R. Ghurayyib, personal communication, August 30, 2000).
For Ghurayyib and her friends Anissa Najjar, Najla Akrawi, and Salwa Nassar, Mosul was the place for special and exciting years.She recounted: The Iraqi government recruited young female graduates from Lebanon to teach at the public schools in Iraq as there were no private schools then.These young educators rented houses and lived together.I lived in the same house as Anissa Najjar and Linda Karam.They called us "sayidat al-shabqah," meaning "ladies of the hat," as we wore hats and they did not.I taught the Arabic language and other subjects and we had to participate in extracurricular activities.Our female students in Mosul looked up to us with great admiration and we were their ideal model due to our modern, progressive teaching style, and to our reaching out to their community through theater and music.We even published a school magazine, Banat Al-Dad....We spent our time in creative work and we turned the school into a cultural centre.As a result, our students were high achievers in the official exams (R. Her many memories of Iraq meant a lot to Ghurayyib.One could instantly notice the radiant expressions on her face when she talked about her theatrical experiences and the many plays that were performed as part of the extracurricular activities.She spoke about those achievements with great humor: I was best in the role of men.We were all females at school and someone had to perform the role of males in the script.I best fitted these roles.I was tall, thin, and I pinned my hair up.We performed mainly Said Taki Al-Din stories (R. Ghurayyib, personal communication, August 30, 2000).
The fervent bond that these young women had was strong enough to keep them united even in turbulent days.Anissa Najjar commented on these difficult days: criticizing the dependence on others that prevailed among men and women in the Orient, as opposed to the self-reliance that prevailed in the West.This, in her opinion, was due to inherited habits and an upbringing that encouraged blind allegiance to leaders who could be merciless rulers, and/or religious figures or even feudalists.Ghurayyib's analytical criticism was even more apparent in a 1948 Sawt Al-Mar'a article, "Hal Li Lubnan Risalah?" (Does Lebanon Have a Message?), in which she questioned the achievements of Lebanese thinkers, writ-ers, and educators.Specifically, she criticized their tendency to slavishly mimic the West, ignoring their own culture, folklore, and language.So much was Ghurayyib an advocate of critical thinking that she stated at the end of her article: "One line written by a creative mind is better than a thousand copied volumes" (Ghurayyib, 1948).

Special Features 106 107
In our effort to pay homage to Rose Ghurayyib, we asked the first director of IWSAW, Dr. Julinda Abu Nasr, a life long friend and colleague of the writer, to reflect on her relationship with the late Ghurayyib.
Rose was a very dear friend.We worked closely together for more than a decade and remained friends until she died.Prior to meeting her, I had already learned a lot about her from my mother who had taught her as a student at the American Evangelical School in Sidon.
According to my mother, Rose was diligent, hardworking, a perfectionist and one of the most intelligent students she had ever taught.When Rose transferred to an American school from a French school, she did not know any English.However, by the end of the year she earned the highest score in the whole school on the English test.Unlike other students, Rose spent recess time reading or studying or consulting her dictionary to accelerate the learning process.
As a young person she wanted to become a nun but her mother would not allow it.Her desire to study medicine was also blocked by her parents, hence she opted for Arabic literature.This decision may be considered a blessing since she excelled in literature thus enriching the Arab library with her literary contributions.
Rose had difficulty communicating with her parents and people in general.Even though she was loved and appreciated by many, she was a loner and hardly accepted social invitations or paid visits to anyone.She felt that these activities were a waste of time, and was very suspicious of many.She was reserved in showing her feelings or opening up to people, a drawback in her social relations which she regretted in the last year of her life when she was bedridden with a broken hip.I recall her saying to me, "I do not know how to show my affection or appreciation to people who love me.I was lucky to have so many friends who genuinely cared and supported me but I regret that I did not know how to reciprocate." Our friendship developed when she came to live at the Beirut University College after she was displaced from her home during the 1975 war that devastated Lebanon.Rose occupied a small apartment in Shannon Hall above the offices of the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World directly across from the apartment where I lived.As the director of the Institute at the time, I was in the process of recruiting an editor for Al-Raida.It was our luck that Rose accepted to assume full responsibility for the task.She produced Al-Raida, single handed, in English and Arabic, as writer, researcher, and editor.It was smaller in size than it is now, but she managed to turn it into a scholarly publication on Arab women that attracted a lot of subscribers from East and West.Over and above she helped in translating documents, articles, and conference proceedings in addition to the research she conducted on Arab women that culminated in three books, Mai Ziyadeh:al-Tawahuj wa al-'uful, Nasamat wa A'asir fi al-Shi'r al-Nisa'i al-'Arabi al-Mu'asir, and Adwa' 'Ala al-Haraka al-Nisaiyyah al-Mu'asirah.She did all this for half a salary in appreciation for the college which gave her lodging when she was displaced.As if all this work was not enough to pay her debt, she donated to the University a sum of money as well as all her books and manuscripts.
Working at the Institute was a continuation of a mission Rose had started many years before.She was a pioneer in the struggle for women's freedom and a feminist who had written extensively on women's liberation and women's rights.She struggled to empower women and alert them to the need for rebelling against inherited stereotypes that enslaved them.In her essays that appeared regularly in daily newspapers and women's magazines, she tackled issues of women's oppression, exploitation in society, at work, and within the family.She urged women and men to take immediate action to change prevalent conditions that kept women in the abyss of ignorance.Rose left a rich literary inheritance in books and articles on women's issues.
In her dealings with people, Rose was very modest and so was her lifestyle.Despite being considered an outstanding writer who was honored and decorated on several occasions, she never felt special .She considered herself first and foremost a teacher, and she was an excellent teacher.Rose was very knowledgeable and creative.She could converse on a variety of topics in three languages and never hesitated to write a poem, a play, a jingle or a rhyme at a very short notice in any of the three languages she had mastered, namely English, French, and Arabic.
Rose was an avid reader and a prolific writer who was very critical of her achievements and felt uncomfortable when praised.She was always striving for higher levels of excellence.
Although she looked austere, Rose was very sensitive, caring, loving and tender.She was able to relate to children and young people with ease.She enjoyed their company, identified with them and took pleasure in telling them stories and writing for them.Her contribution to children's books exceeds 110 stories in addition to songs, plays, poems, and rhymes.Alnakd al Jamali, a book on literary criticism for adults is considered a classic in the field, and her translation of Nadia Tuweini's difficult poetry from French to Arabic is a masterpiece.
Forgiveness was another characteristic of hers.She never held a grudge against anyone, not even those who were responsible for her displacement and the destruction of her house.Her rich library with choice books was looted and so were all her belongings, including two manuscripts that were ready for print.Her reaction was, "Thank God the library was stolen and not burnt down.At least I know that the books are being read and are of use to someone."Although she knew who took it, she was willing to forgive and forget.
According to those who were at her bedside when she passed away, Rose left this world in peace with herself and the world.She was surrounded by people who loved her and took good care of her.Her last words were, "Love is happiness."With the departure of Rose, I lost a dear friend from whom I learned a lot and whom I will surely miss.May the memory of Rose Ghurayyib continue to be an everlasting inspiration for all of us.May her achievements in life continue to be a source of pride for all of us and for LAU, and may her extraordinary life continue to be a cause of celebration for this well-knit extended family that we call LAU (Natadhakar Rose Ghurayyib, 2006, p. 11).

Special Features
Homage to Rose Ghurayyib  The two theoretical classes that I took -Transnational Communication and Media and Audience -I found to be continuations of the courses I completed at LAU, such as Media and Society and International Communication.I felt well prepared for the class discussions because of the wealth of readings I had been exposed to at LAU.Additionally, my practical experience in radio and television production gave me a different perspective on topics such as audience theory.
Overall, my Australian experience changed me for the better.I have developed a greater degree of independence, deeper knowledge of the media practice, skills in corporate communication, and a broader perspective of the world's cultures.The best part of my trip to Sydney has been that I have been able to combine studying and academic learning with travel and meeting new people.I would have to say that I learned as much snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef as I did writing a paper on audience theory.All of these elements combined have made studying in Australia a time in my life that I will never forget, and my degree has actually changed my career-path.I now look forward to either finding a job in public relations or corporate communications or continuing my experience in broadcast television.
, Hatem in Joseph, ed.2000, Zulficar n.d;).And the reforms failed to settle the question of children's nationality which they receive through their father, an aspect of legal discrimination that affects nearly all Arab women.Notably, Palestinian women reformers have recently achieved a change in this area (Al-Rifa'i, 2005).

[
Rose] was strongly attracted towards voluntary social work in the various welfare projects of the college.She participated in the first Village Welfare Camp initiated by Miss Winifred Shannon 5 in 1930.She was among the first volunteers who went to Deir Mama Camp in Syria in the summer of 1932 (Sabri, 1967, p. 70).

I
didn't know what to expect when I embarked upon my journey to Sydney.All I had in my mind were vague images of the Opera House, Harbor Bridge, and kangaroos leaping through the desert.The country, however, proved to be much more than I could have imagined.First of all, my program and campus involved many international students from countries as diverse as Sweden and Mexico.From my first day of orientation I was exposed to different cultures and attitudes.I got the chance to see that although my friends' backgrounds differed from mine we could all enjoy each other's company and find many traits in common.Second of all, I discovered that Australia had endless amounts of sites to see -both natural and man-made.The country is full of interesting architecture, wondrous plants, and bizarre animals -enough to keep me entertained for at least two semesters.Finally, the MA in Professional Communication program proved to be far more challenging than I expected.Most of the students in my classes were from Canada and had a great deal of experience in PR and marketing.This gave them a competitive edge over me, since I had very little business experience.However, I was soon able to get up-to-speed on the terminology and learn from their examples and projects.I tried my best to always contribute to class discussions by drawing on whatever experience I had had in the fields of media and event management.I also had to read extra material relating to marketing and the latest trends.By the end of my first semester I had contributed to developing a fullscale integrated marketing communications plan that could be presented to a corporate client (fictional in this case) and done my own analysis of an Australian brand.
his daughter: Study: why should you study?I have sons aplenty who can study Girl, why should you study?The daughter tells her father: Since you ask, here's why I must study.Because I am a girl, I must study.Long denied this right, I must study For my dreams to take flight, I must study Knowledge brings new light, so I must study For the battles I must fight, I must study Because I am a girl, I must study.To avoid destitution, I must study To win independence, I must study To fight frustration, I must study To find inspiration, I must study Because I am a girl, I must study.To fight men's violence, I must study To end my silence, I must study To challenge patriarchy I must study To demolish all hierarchy, I must study.Because I am a girl, I must study.To mould a faith I can trust I must study To make laws that are just, I must study To sweep centuries of dust, I must study To challenge what I must, I must study Because I am a girl, I must study.To know right from wrong, I must study.To find a voice that is strong, I must study To write feminist songs I must study To make a world where girls belong, I must study.Because I am a girl, I must study.Retrieved from http://www.gmc.ge/images/PDF/BuLLetin2006-9E.pdfAccessed October 20, 2006.The Marie Bashir Scholarship Award In 2005 the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University (LAU) received a scholarship for post-graduate studies from the Governor of New South Wales in Australia, Her Excellency Dr. Marie Bashir.The scholarship, which amounted to 25,000 Australian dollars, was to be offered to a young female Lebanese LAU student to pursue her studies in Australia for the academic year 2006.Dr. Abdallah Sfeir, Vice President for Academic Affairs, formed a search committee that was composed of the following faculty members: Dr. Tarik Mikdashi, Dean of the Business School, Beirut campus, Dr. Mars Semaan, Dean of Students, Byblos campus, Dr. Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, Director of IWSAW and Dr. Victor Khachan, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Byblos campus.Drs.Dabbous-Sensenig and Khachan developed selection criteria based on the applicant's academic excellence, namely her GPA, English language proficiency as well as immediate commitment to the scholarship.Three applicants were short listed and interviewed.Nohad Mouawad was chosen to receive the scholarship given that she had the highest GPA, spoke and wrote English impeccably and showed great commitment to the scholarship.The following piece written by the scholarship recipient , describes Mouawad's experience as a graduate student in Australia.
Empowerment of women can take place in many forms; education is one tool.Studies and statistics show that if you do not use this tool you will not be empowered.Many educated women in Lebanon and Syria do not use their education or put it into practice.It is such a waste given that the least education can do is empower women financially.I finished school when I was 18 and started working as a school teacher.[At that point] the war was raging and I had lost both my parents.I taught for three years then decided I needed to further my education.Hence, I enrolled… at the Université Saint Joseph (USJ) and then worked on my Master's degree.I was working and studying at the same time.After completing my Master's I applied to France for a Ph.D.During that time I met my husband.So I had two options: either to further my education and work on a Ph.D. or get married.I opted for marriage, got children and was busy with them.Twenty years later, I decided to pursue my dream and work on a Ph.D. given that I was no longer busy with my children. DDS:

Jennifer Skulte-Ouaiss: In
the US it is joked about, though less so now, [that a B.A. is really] the "M.R.S." (i.e., marriage) degree.That was the reason why most of us decided to go for higher education.Of course, it is important that one majors in a field he/she likes because you should enjoy what you are doing.Going for a higher education was the natural thing to do.My parents went out of their way to give us a good education.They spent all their savings to send us to the best schools and universities.When I applied to the American University of Beirut (AUB) I had no idea what I wanted to major in.Given that I was a Math student I didn't have much choice.So I decided to major in Architecture despite the fact that I knew nothing about it.During my second year at university I realized that I needed to shift majors if I wanted to find a job.So I opted for Sociology and did my Master's in Sociology.…While at university I was constantly worried about my career and about finding a job given that I had no practical experience whatsoever.For instance, I taught myself how to type.I learned it by myself at home.
It is [not necessarily] education that allows one to reach leadership positions but one's work experience.I believe that work experience is very important for reaching leadership positions.It is the struggle I went through: the job, the project, my encounters with people.
Probably my Sociology background helped me communicate better with people.My work experience, my mistakes and what I have learned from my mistakes are what made me what I am today and what pushes me to go forward.
Same for me.I dragged my husband too.Related to the point that you made earlier, namely: Is the university supposed to give you the skills needed to join the labor force?When university started, it was not supposed to do that.Maybe we need to redefine what the university is supposed to give us.To me a university education implied more financial independence.
MH:JSO: I'm not an Arab woman, but I definitely got a higher education degree to gain more financial independence.I looked at my parents and said to myself, "I do not want to struggle the way they have."DDS: My university education here at LAU had a lot of the problems you mentioned.However, I have to admit that I had good teachers who equipped me to work later on in my field.For me, it made a lot of difference that those teachers were women.Watching my female teachers in action was very empowering.I looked up to them.To me, each one of them was a "super woman."So it is important to have role models, yet, it is also imperative to have gender sensitive courses.Can you reflect on the courses you took at university and their content?Theoretical and technical experience is important, but please try to reflect on your education in terms of course content, gender sensitivity, and tell me to what extent it has helped you -or not -feel the way you feel about yourself.If you were told, for instance, that you are "nothing but a pretty face," did that make you feel bad about yourself?JSO: Both of you [Lara A. and Rana W.] are in Elementary Education, which is a female-dominated field, did that affect you?
completely identify with what they are saying and feeling.It is a natural feeling.It is important to be empowered but you have to take into consideration this "other" who is the opposite sex.Creating a world here in the university is not reflecting the real world.It's single sex, so you are going to feel different than if you were living in a world that reflects the reality of men and women.ZM: I think it's a two-way thing.It is the actual presence of the other sex and it is also what comes with it in terms of discussions and debates, particularly in Education if I'm reading you well.If you had male students with you I think maybe they would contribute to the discussions in a different way.This is where the lack of interaction or the lack of interest is reflected.
LA: It's a minor point that reflects many aspects in one's life.Because we opted for Early Child Education (Preschool) and given that all the students who are enrolled in the department are women, we ended up in a single-sex setup.So, in a way, it is our choice of university and specialization that has kept us from interacting with men and not our society.DDS: Society too is responsible because majoring in Elementary Education is not an appropriate field for men.There is a point I would like to raise here.Unfortunately, women only see themselves through the eyes of the men looking at them; their self-esteem does not come from within and from what they can do, but rather from how men view them.This is a problem, a cross-cultural one.Wherever consumerism is very high in society, the pressure is on women to concentrate on their looks.Hence, as long as I look pretty I feel good about myself.
For example, in the US, at job interviews they are interested in what kind of leadership skills you have.
MJT: I also think it's a question of attitude: how you react to things, how flexible you are.For example, I was told by one of my university teachers that getting a Master's degree abroad is a waste of money.According to him, because I am a woman I am bound to get married and become a housewife.We are exposed to such sexist comments all the time and I think it is a question of attitude.It depends on the person and if he/she has the inner strength to fight back.I don't consider such comments impediments; on the contrary, I actually see them as challenges.I often feel I want to fight back and defeat such claims.My boyfriend often tells me that he sees me as half male, half female because I'm working all the time and I don't have time to see him anymore because I have a lot of work.DDS:For the rest of you, has your education helped you or is it just related to one's character and personality?…DKS:Theattitude of university professors does influence the performance of students.When teachers encourage you to work hard, you feel motivated.But when teachers don't take their profession seriously it affects you greatly.You become de-motivated.JSO:If you could change one thing about higher education so that women would be more empowered in per-sonal relationships, in public roles, or as politicians, or in their private jobs, what would you change?RG: It's not something related directly to gender, as [it's] said that the best students are usually women.Excellence -whether by males or females -needs to be better acknowledged.I have two other suggestions regarding higher education.The link to employment, as everyone was saying, also affects women because women don't know how to gain access to employment.So, if higher education can also bridge the gap between graduating and being able to have the network to find employment as well as full graduate scholarships (for example, Marie Jose here got the Fulbright Scholarship).So I mean a challenge like this would really help women and empower them.MH: I believe that career orientation sessions are also very beneficial and important.However, despite the fact that orientation sessions are taking place they are very marketoriented.They fail to mold you into a better career person.You get a lot of talk about things you can do but nobody follows you up; nobody guides you.You are given a lot of brochures to consult and then you're on your own.JSO: What about leadership training?MH: Leadership.I don't think it's an issue for most of the people in this country.There are so many obstacles to face before you worry about whether you're going to need leadership training or not.JSO: But… leadership, broadly defined, what does it mean to be a leader in the classroom?MH: Whether you are going to find a job or not and being a woman and ….MS: And you have to keep the job as well.MH: And being a woman there is the worry which kind of job you are going to get.JSO: es because there's this culture that teaches women that by default they are not leaders.They are more educators, and so taking classes on leadership would raise, I think, women's goals and make us more ambitious.

Table 2 : Drop-out Rate by Gender
of my lifetime studying and teaching.In the fall of 1931 I registered at the American Junior College for Women (AJCW) as a sophomore student.3…InJune1932,I graduated with an Associate in Arts degree.4Thisdegree enabled me to pursue my higher education at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and to graduate in 1934 with a BA in Arabic Literature with distinction.I was initially interested in sciences and biology but my background in these subjects was weak and my professors, Dr. Constantine Zurayk, Dr. Anis Al-Makdisi, Dr. Anis Freiha, and Dr. Jubrail Jabbour, advised me to specialize further in Arabic literature.Much later, in 1945, I completed a Master's in this field.My thesis was entitled "Aesthetic Criticism in Arabic Literature."Throughout these years I was simultaneously studying and teaching the Arabic language (Ghurayyib, n.d.). most We usually went as a group and we traveled via Aleppo to Mosul using the Automatrice railway [a coastal railway that connected Lebanon to many Arab countries].One time, I had to go by myself.I traveled by bus and I had to

Rose's Ghurayyib's Contributions to Literature and Scholarship
When the Second World War started and Lebanon was under General Duntz we gathered to discuss what would become of us.Salwa Nassar said: No one will be interested in my physics or math.I know how to sew so I will work as a seamstress.I [Anissa] said: I know how to cook so I will open a small restaurant, but Ghurayyib said with despair: I am of no use, no one will benefit from my literature so I will surely die of hunger.We assured her that we would never leave her and would take care of her (Natadhakar RoseGhurayyib, 2006, p. 18).They all stayed in Mosul until 1941.When Ghurayyib was asked why she returned to Lebanon, her answer was: "My health deteriorated and I was very tired so I decided to come back and rest" (R. Ghurayyib, personal communication, August 30, 2000).However, resting was not on her agenda; as soon as she arrived in Beirut she became head of the Arabic Department at the AJCW.In 1945 she moved to the Collège Protestant Français to teach Arabic until 1955.In 1956, she was back at the Beirut College was only 15 years old and still a student at the American School of Sidon.A migrant from the Ghurayyib family came to Damour and established Al-Shams journal.He encouraged me to write about progressive ideas that would lead to change and improvement.I kept writing for Al-Shams for many years.Later on, when I was 21 and a teacher at the same school, I wrote an article entitled "Ma Hiya Al-Madrassa al-Lati Yahtajouha Waladak" (What Type of School Does Your Child Need?).
I commented: "Rose … loved, observed, criticized, appreciated, and advised her friends and those in her entourage; but it was hard for her to handle her society's mistakes" (Natadhakar Rose Ghurayyib, 2006, p. 17).
Though she tried hard to escape ceremonies held in her honor, she was awarded the Medal of the Association of University Graduates in Lebanon, 1968; the Cedar Order, 1971; and the Gold Medal for Education, 1980.At the commemoration of Rose Ghurayyib held by the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World on March 23, 2006, Dr.Joseph G. Jabbra, President of the Lebanese American University, said: Nohad Mouawad, an LAU Communication Arts graduate, is the recipient , through the Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World, of the Marie Bashir Scholarship Award.When I graduated from LAU with a BA in Communication Arts (Radio/TV/Film) I honestly had no clue what I was going to do next.I had directed my play and my film, completed two internships, and now I was a fresh graduate trying to find her place in the field.I had found my experience at Lebanese TV stations somewhat limited so I tried my hand at event planning.This experiment proved interesting and entertaining but also quite tiring and stressful.And, I was eager to return to media practice.So, when I learned that I had been granted a scholarship to study Professional Communication in Australia, I was very excited.