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March 30, 2021 | 29 Pages | English | Georgia Dagher
Women’s Participation and Representation in Lebanese Politics: Electoral Performance, Challenges, and the Road Ahead

The representation of women in Lebanese politics has always been  disproportionately low. Not only is the historical framework of power in Lebanon patriarchal in nature, but the country’s political families are all led by men as well. Under the majoritarian systems that have dominated parliamentary and municipal elections since the end of the civil war, electoral results have always sidelined women. The proportional representation system, adopted in 2017 and used in the 2018 parliamentary elections, brought some hopes of changing these tendencies. In reality, only six women entered parliament that year—an increase of only two from the previous elections. This report examines the reasons behind the low representation of women in Lebanese politics and potential  remedies in order to create a fairer and more egalitarian electoral  system. It also sheds light on the impact of geographic characteristics and sectarian representation on the performance of women candidates in the elections.