Let’s Talk: Maher Choueiry

On June 10th, 2017, the KIP Project held a training session for Lebanese SMEs on the drafting of anti-sexual harassment guidelines and policies, in partnership with the Office of the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs (OMSWA), the Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB), and the Global Compact Network Lebanon. We spoke with some of the participants from the private sector about their role in mobilizing for social change, specifically around anti-sexual harassment policy and legislation.

“I’m currently working as Specialist Learning and Development in M1 group. It’s a huge group, we have several companies under us. Our sectors are real estate, fashion, aviation, investment, energy, education, and so on.”

Why were you interested in this training workshop?

“My friend communicated the brochure to us, and it was super interesting because the topic is very rare in the Arab world. I was just telling them around the table that currently we’re in the process of documenting our code of ethics and I’ve been doing a lot of research in the last couple of days. What was super shocking to me is that none of the code of ethics [of listed companies] have sexual harassment in the Arab world. Although there are huge companies, in Lebanon, none of them have the sexual harassment part inside their code of ethics. Since I’m currently involved in documenting the code of ethics, I thought this might be super beneficial for me just to gain more knowledge regarding this issue.”

What do you hope to take away from this session?

“How to draft the policy, what does it contain, maybe the mechanism of reporting such an incident, the channel of communication regarding that, and the concept of the awareness that we need to raise as an HR to our employees, that it’s not wrong if such things happen in the workplace, that you can get back to us and report incidents.”

What can private sector do to advocate for these issues?

“It’s very important to spread awareness. even if a company has a sexual harassment policy, they have to do workshops and trainings like these in order to spread awareness–what is it for? Whats the important issue out of it? What’s the outcome? Why is it there? So it’s really important just to spread the knowledge and this mentality, especially in the Arab world.”

— Maher Choueiry, Specialist Learning and Development, M1 Group

Let’s Talk: Farah Bousaleh

On June 10th, 2017, the KIP Project held a training session for Lebanese SMEs on the drafting of anti-sexual harassment guidelines and policies, in partnership with the Office of the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs (OMSWA), the Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB), and the Global Compact Network Lebanon. We spoke with some of the participants from the private sector about their role in mobilizing for social change, specifically around anti-sexual harassment policy and legislation.

“Sexual harassment is considered a civil rights violation. However, the law is not enough. There is a lot of work that needs to be done within our community, education, and awareness. The working place is an excellent opportunity to train, educate, formalize within the internal company policy all matters related to sexual harassment.

It is the duty of the employer to introduce the topic of sexual harassment and inform employees about their duties and their rights. A healthy and equal workplace culture is vital for the growing success of any business and professional relationship.

With the rise of the economic crisis worldwide, sexual harassment cases are on the rise and a very small percentage is speaking up, which is damaging on a moral, personal, psychological level for the victims but also on a financial level to both employer and employee whenever the case is happening in the workplace.

We need to partner with activists as business entities and help break this taboo.”

— Farah Bousaleh, Human Resources Manager, Mobile Technology Tomorrow

Let’s Talk: Michael Abou Nabhan

Let’s Talk: Michael Abou Nabhan

AUB student Michael spoke with KIP about the Gender and Sexuality Club’s project, Concepts and Misconceptions, which aims to provide an anonymous platform for people to discuss issues of gender and sexuality in Lebanon.

Michael: There was something I heard or read… [that] nobody really protests or fights for something that they haven’t personally experienced. So nobody would go and, for example, make a fundraiser for curing diabetes if they don’t personally have someone [with diabetes] in the family, or a close friend, or themselves. It really made me angry. I was like, okay fine, this is maybe true, that nobody would fight for something if it’s not close to them. Okay, this friend who knows no one who is homosexual or cares about anyone who is homosexual, he’s not going to go and correct someone, for example. And it sucks that that’s the truth. No one’s going to speak out, a homosexual wouldn’t go speak out about it in fear of his or her safety.

When I heard about the project I was very excited, because I wasn’t doing anything about it and I wanted to do something about it. And I thought I had input, I could put my hand in this. And it had all the keys where it was anonymous, it was personal, it was out there on social media. So I was hoping that this project would connect people with people and just make them less different and more “normal”–people who have hardships, but certain hardships that don’t exist with heterosexuals. And I wanted to be a part of it because I wanted to hear people share them and not stay silent.

We don’t care who you are, we just want you to share your experience and be heard because you’re keeping silent. And some of the people who I know, and I’m friends with, I want to interview them but they don’t want to. They say, ‘I have nothing to share, I don’t want to say anything, I don’t need to talk about these things.” And I’m like, but you do have to talk about these things. I want you to be heard and I want other people to read your story. It can be as anonymous as it can be, it can be a white screen, but I want you to let yourself be heard, to fight for your voice.

Being silent about it is letting it happen.

Let’s Talk: Vanessa and Nour

Let’s Talk: Vanessa and Nour

Vanessa: I want to do something software engineering related, like design meets computer science.

Nour: I’m going to do special education where I can teach differently-abled children how to code. So for me, I don’t have the issue of ending up in an office where you’re underrepresented, like in computer science.

Vanessa: I feel like in the work field there’s a lot of sexism.

Nour: And a lot of times…they consider that women get hired in computer science just because they need to fill a female quota and that we don’t actually get hired for being good at what we do. So even if you’re really good in your field, most of the time [the perception is] you’re just getting hired to fill a quota.

I think there’s this concept that you do stand out when you’re a female in the field. But it’s both negative and positive attention that you get.

Vanessa: And I feel that not caring—just doing your own thing regardless of what happens—is the way you can overcome it.

Nour: I was very concerned about them [perceptions of gender roles] in my first semester and it really does affect the way you work on things. You need to ignore them or else they pull you back.

— Vanessa Boghos and Nour Boumalham, Computer Science

Let’s Talk: Jinan Moumneh

Let’s Talk: Jinan Moumneh

Do you ever think that someone might bother or harass you while walking down the street in Beirut? “I sometimes think that [street harassment is] possible because I live in off campus dorms and there are some lights that aren’t illuminated, so sometimes I feel like there are people lurking in the corners so I try not to walk back late by myself. There’s not enough lighting.

What are the resources you resort to for help in this case (of harassment)? I think [harassment is] a very disturbing experience, so I would probably need to consult someone or talk to the counseling office. If it happened near AUB I would try to talk to someone that has authority. Other than confiding in friends or family, to go beyond that would be to talk to someone in authority here or to get counseling.

What do you think should be done to deal with issues of street harassment and the unsafe navigation of public spaces? I don’t know what AUB can do about it, but in general, for prevention from us, we shouldn’t walk by ourselves, but that doesn’t make it okay. I don’t know what can be done on a bigger scale. You can put in more lights, but that doesn’t change the fact that someone might still harass you. So I think, I don’t know if this is relevant, but you have to educate people. You have to raise awareness.”

— Jinan Moumneh – Nutrition

Note: This interview was originally published on November 22, 2016, by AUB’s official student newspaper, Outlook, as part of the KIP Project’s online campaign against street harassment, called #NotYourAshta.

Let’s Talk: Ali and Omar

Let’s Talk: Ali and Omar

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Do you ever think that someone might bother or harass you while walking down the street in Beirut?

Ali: The kind of harassment or bothering that I feel as a male maybe is a bit different than the one a woman might feel. There are still, let’s say, not very nice people sometimes at night in Beirut who would bother anyone. But not naturally, I’m far less afraid than I would imagine any woman to be if she walks at the time that I would walk in.

Omar: Personally I’ve never had that fear, but the streets in Beirut, especially at night, they could be kind of scary when they’re not lit properly.

What are the resources you resort to for help in this case (of harassment)?

Ali: Ideally the police [would be a channel to deal with harassment]. I generally don’t know. I wouldn’t go to the police. I don’t know what I would do.

Omar: I think there’s a counseling line, I’m not sure exactly. But I think there’s a number you can call when you get harassed. I think that could be an option.

What do you think should be done to deal with issues of street harassment and the unsafe navigation of public spaces?

Ali: Aside from lighting, on a community level, I think certain groups of people could do some sort of night watch, not just for street harassment, but for anything that is related. At an awareness level, I think the problem with raising awareness in Lebanon and in general, is that it’s often initiated by wealthier individuals who come from mostly Western backgrounds and the target audience tends to be also wealthy individuals with access to this information who may have been exposed to it before, may, not necessarily. It doesn’t reach out to other large layers of the social strata in Lebanon…I think that any kind of awareness should be targeted everywhere, especially in places where there hasn’t been much presence before, and it should be used in their language. Communication should be according to their values, their ideals, their community variables. And as for policy, there’s a lot to work on there.

Omar: First of all, I think the streets should be lit properly, that’s the first step. That wouldn’t just solve that problem, but it would also solve the problem of car accidents, for example.

 

– Ali Amhaz, Psychology and Omar Dahduli, Agriculture

Note: This interview was originally published on November 22, 2016, by AUB’s official student newspaper, Outlook, as part of the KIP Project’s online campaign against street harassment, called #NotYourAshta.

Let’s Talk: Mai Al Khouri

Let’s Talk: Mai Al Khouri

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Do you ever think that someone might bother or harass you while walking down the street in Beirut?

I’m originally from Jordan and I feel more safe in Beirut than I do in Amman. I know in Amman [street harassment] was actually a really big issue. You would hear about it every single week and it would happen on a daily basis, even in broad daylight, but in Beirut I feel more safe than I would in Amman. But even then, as a female I’m just kind of always worried, even in the daytime.

What are the resources you resort to for help in this case (of harassment)?

I don’t feel as if I have any resources. I know there’s SheFighter in Jordan but I don’t feel like there are things here, or as if I were to go, even if on the streets if something was to happen, I don’t feel like I could just go up to anyone and ask for help.

What do you think should be done to deal with issues of street harassment and the unsafe navigation of public spaces?

Self-defense and awareness [would help] because I don’t feel that women feel comfortable going up to others and being like, ‘help me, there’s this thing happening.” I feel [it’s important] just to be creating a more helpful environment.

– Mai Al Khouri, Majorless

Note: This interview was originally published on November 22, 2016, by AUB’s official student newspaper, Outlook, as part of the KIP Project’s online campaign against street harassment, called #NotYourAshta.

Let’s Talk: Kamal and Hind

Let’s Talk: Kamal and Hind

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Kamal: “I’m interested in a career in HR, in organizational behavior and psychology, sociology, and there’s a stereotype that people who work in this field are only women. Even a professor in our class told us, “I’m glad there are men in the class.” So, usually, this class is always women. I feel this is a stereotype about gender…I don’t know how I’m going to feel it later in the future when I get into the job market…

Especially if I want to study psychology and sociology and all these things, there’s a tendency for women to study this more. I think this is something in this region, in other places it’s not like this. It’s in the media––boys should do engineering and medicine.”

Hind: “But you don’t really care about society when you’re trying to climb your way up…I think that’s one of the reasons I want to be a CEO. I don’t want to have a boss who says, “You’re a woman, you get paid less, you’re perceived as less powerful,” so really, I don’t want to be underneath that. I would like to be my own CEO because of that partially.”

— Kamal Al Hout (Business Management and Sociology) and Hind Abu El Teif (Finance and Marketing)

Let’s Talk: Ghassan and Maya

 

Let’s Talk: Ghassan and Maya

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Ghassan: “Statistically, women are the bigger portion of the labor force working in agriculture worldwide. And they’re usually not the first target in sustainable development. Most rural and poor countries are usually worse off because of sexism and lack of literacy…there’s still that perception that if you’re working in agriculture then you need all that muscle mass.

In sustainability its different, because people that are going to appreciate sustainability are going to appreciate the feminine side of the world––nature is usually feminine. Mother earth is a mother. When they’re conscious of the impact humans have of the earth I think they’re on a different level of awareness so they appreciate women as much as men…”

Maya: “When I think of a Lebanese woman, I think of a strong woman, and the fact that there’s this misconception that we have one role to play and we all have to look a certain way, it kind of works against the women that are trying to break out of that mold. 

For instance, im not looking forward to having to deal with certain people on the field. I want to work ON the field. I don’t want to work in a company, I don’t want to be hidden. I want to work on the field, I want to interact with farmers, I want to be able to just talk to them and see what their problems are and offer up solutions. But these farmers are old men. The majority of them are men who have been there for years and years and who am I? I’m this little girl? Even how I look, I’m this little girl that’s going to be like, “sorry, you’re doing this wrong.” No, I don’t think I’m going to be taken seriously in that aspect. Or even doing manual labor, this is what I want to do and my size works against me in that aspect. There will always be men that are going to be like let me do it for you. No, I’m learning this.”

A farmer is a farmer, not a he she or it. This is something that’s kind of scaring me for future goals. I’m a woman, whereas he has a higher chance of getting the same job I’m applying for just because of his gender.

I’d be easy to talk to. I’ll inspire a girl who’s just like me or other girls in the major to take that step to be like, ‘No, I’m standing against what everybody else says.’ And the reactions you get are, ‘What are you going to do with agriculture? You’re so small. They’re basically saying, you’re a girl. What am I not going to do with agriculture?”


— Maya Ayache, Agriculture and Ghassan Al Salman, Agriculture

Let’s Talk: Lama Miri

Let’s Talk: Lama Miri

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Lama: “Of all engineering majors––chemical engineering is relatively recent––…it’s the only major in engineering that has a really decent ration of females to males, so you have around 50% per year, which is great because women are interested in engineering and we are capable of doing it.

Chemical engineering, all in all, attracts both men and women more than other [engineering fields] …but for job opportunities it’s a bit tricky…. [for work] it really depends on the country more than the company itself, because it comes with its own culture and then you have to deal with that as well.”

— Lama Miri, Chemical Engineering