Salam Honors Lebanese Women, Calls for Equality in Political Life
11/12/2025 11:58:00 AM
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam opened the 12th edition of the Women on the Front Lines conference at the Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut, hosted by the May Chidiac Foundation.
In his address, Salam paid tribute to May Chidiac as “a free and courageous woman who turned her wound into a platform and her pain into commitment.” He also honored generations of pioneering Lebanese women, from Ibtihaj Kaddoura and Anbara Salam Al-Khalidi to Emily Fares Ibrahim, the first woman to run for parliament in 1953, who paved the way for women’s participation in public life.
Salam highlighted the continued struggle for equality, noting that women hold only 6.3% of parliamentary seats, compared to a global average of 26%, due to entrenched patriarchal mentalities and gender-based discrimination. He stressed that empowering women in politics and public administration is “not a favor but a prerequisite for Lebanon’s revival as a modern state of law and institutions.”
Citing the 2006 electoral reform proposal mandating one-third female candidates on parliamentary lists, Salam urged for renewed efforts to enact such measures.
Salam concluded by calling on Lebanese women to run and vote massively in the upcoming elections, affirming: “This is our collective date with history, to shape a different, brighter future together.”
In his address, Salam paid tribute to May Chidiac as “a free and courageous woman who turned her wound into a platform and her pain into commitment.” He also honored generations of pioneering Lebanese women, from Ibtihaj Kaddoura and Anbara Salam Al-Khalidi to Emily Fares Ibrahim, the first woman to run for parliament in 1953, who paved the way for women’s participation in public life.
Salam highlighted the continued struggle for equality, noting that women hold only 6.3% of parliamentary seats, compared to a global average of 26%, due to entrenched patriarchal mentalities and gender-based discrimination. He stressed that empowering women in politics and public administration is “not a favor but a prerequisite for Lebanon’s revival as a modern state of law and institutions.”
Citing the 2006 electoral reform proposal mandating one-third female candidates on parliamentary lists, Salam urged for renewed efforts to enact such measures.
Salam concluded by calling on Lebanese women to run and vote massively in the upcoming elections, affirming: “This is our collective date with history, to shape a different, brighter future together.”