Hamas: Women Banned From Smoking

From Associated Press:

Gaza's Hamas rulers are banning women from smoking water pipes in cafes, claiming it violates tradition and leads to divorce.

Plainclothes security officials handed out the ban order to Gaza City cafes over the weekend.

Police spokesman Ayman Batneiji said Sunday that officers are enforcing Gazan traditions. He said husbands often divorce women seen smoking in public but offered no evidence to support that claim.

The pipes are popular with both men and women in Gaza.

Since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, the Islamic Hamas has been trying to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on residents. Schoolgirls, for example, have been ordered to wear modest attire and male hair stylists are banned from women's salons.

Lebanon: Women Unequal

From the Daily Star:

Article 1 of the 1925 Nationality Law states that citizenship is granted to those born of Lebanese fathers. The text says no more. The implication is obvious: those born of Lebanese mothers are not to be granted citizenship.

Citizenship in Lebanon is based on ancestry, not on the place where one is born. But this form of discrimination is compounded in Lebanon’s patriarchal society by the fact that citizenship is only passed down from the father. This law clearly violates the principle of equality between men and women that is enshrined in Article 7 of the Constitution.

Transmission of nationality is not a mere legal formality; it also carries with it social and financial consequences. Because these husbands and children are considered residents of Lebanon and not citizens, they must obtain residency and work permits, which they are required to renew each year. This is a costly procedure involving a tidy sum of money, estimated roughly at $2,000 to $3,300 per person, massive red tape, and long hours spent waiting in line at the office of General Security.

Linda Matar Honored in Lebanon

From the Daily Star:

Linda Matar, one of Lebanon’s most influential women, was honored for her career of service in Lebanon and the Arab world, in a ceremony held by the League of Lebanese Women’s Rights.

Matar has been president of the LLWR since 1953, the year Lebanese women finally obtained the right to vote. She has fought for women’s rights in Lebanon and the Arab world for the past half century, dedicating her life to this uneasy struggle.

Her journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. Throughout the years, she presided over the Lebanese Council of Women from 1996 until 2000 and oversaw reforms that saw the group become a vocal element of local civil society.

She was also a member of the Social Economic Council of Lebanon, a position that allowed her to be one of the most effective advocates for women’s rights in the country. Matar was a leading campaigner for rectifying the woefully low percentage of women in Parliament, running unsuccessfully for the legislature in 1996 and 2000.

She has taken part in over 50 Arab and international conferences, including the UN conference on women in Mexico in 1975, and the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing.

Lebanon: Women's First

From the Daily Star:

The Clemanceau branch of Bank of Beirut and other Arab Countries (BBAC) held a joyful reception on December 27 when Barabara Batlouni became the first mother to open a bank account for her underage sons, Jad and Samir Batlouni, without their father’s legal consent. Among those on hand to cheer Batlouni’s achievement for women’s rights were Wafa Abed, president of the Istitute of Progressive Women, BBAC vice president and legal adviser Abbas al-Halabi, as well as Sabrina Abdelkarim and Nadine Abou Hatab.

"Girl Taxi" Service

Further on from my post "Pink Equals Women Only" comes this update from Don Duncan @ Wall Street Journal on the "women only" taxi service running in Beruit:

But these days the city's transport staple is facing some serious competition from a growing army of female taxi drivers, dressed in stiff-collared white shirts, dark shades, pink ties and small pink flowers tucked into their flawlessly coiffed hair.

All of them drive for Banet Taxi, or "girl taxi" in Arabic. It is Lebanon's first cab service for women, by women. You can't miss the company's signature candy-pink cars.

Ms. Fakhri cut her teeth in business running a pink- and pastel-hued beauty salon in east Beirut. The aesthetic legacy of that experience is clear in her current venture.

She launched Banet Taxi in March with just three cars and three drivers. Her fleet of late-model Peugeots has grown five-fold since then with enough drivers to provide 24-hour service. She is hoping to double her fleet this summer, to 24 cars.

The company is part of a regional trend. Entrepreneurs across the Middle East have recognized the business potential in offering secure transportation options for women. Banet Taxi follows on the heels of successful women-only transportation models in Dubai, Tehran and Cairo.