Municipal elections offer political first step for Lebanese women
Female candidates won big in May's municipal elections across Lebanon, with a substantial jump in female representation from the last local elections in 2010.
According to the National Commission for Lebanese Women, some 600 women were elected during the 2016 municipal elections, an increase of 15% compared to the last elections held in 2010. More educated and more present in the work sphere, women seem to be gaining representation in the public sphere, serving their local communities.
In Baakline, 15 people are elected to the city council, including the president of the municipality. Sara Bou Kamel, a telecommunications engineer running as an independent, almost won the 15th position on the city council in the Chouf area, but ended up 16th, losing by five votes.
Bou Kamel is highly involved in her community through her activities with the nongovernmental organization TERRE Liban. She worked with the previous municipal administration to implement garbage-sorting solutions in Baakline and to train people to fight deforestation and prevent fires.
“I come from a family that was already involved in politics. I was raised to care about this country,” Bou Kamel told Al-Monitor. “Even though I implemented TERRE Liban's branch in the Chouf, leaders of the community would prefer to talk to [founder and President] Paul Abi Rached than me. I wasn't taken seriously as a woman, which was a bit frustrating since it was about my own village.”
