30 March 2016
“I am a man. I was… I’m still… and will always be superior!
Women say we are their masters. We are like crowns on their heads. A house without a man is completely ravaged. I am important!
Even the shadow of a man scares women.
I am a man. My presence is prestigious. When I speak, my voice is like thunder. What if I hit?! I am a man…”
Delivered with obvious irony, this speech was part of a 45-minute puppet show presented by one of MAP’s local partners in Lebanon, Tadamon (meaning ‘Solidarity’ in English), lampooning gender stereotypes in Palestinian refugee society. The performance was met with laughter from the 400 or so women gathered in a hall in Lebanon’s largest refugee camp, Ein el Helweh, but also drew attention to serious subjects such as gender inequality, violence against women and the often bitter reality lived by women in the camps.
Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon face a number of specific risks to their health and wellbeing, including discrimination, exploitation early marriage and domestic violence. Some of these problems are becoming more frequent as result of the pressures created by the influx of Palestinian refugees fleeing to Lebanon from the civil war in Syria. Early marriage, for example, is particularly prevalent among such families, as a negative coping mechanism against economic hardship.
For this reason, MAP supports initiatives which seek to support children, young girls, and their caregivers to enhance their life and resilience skills, and specific knowledge about reproductive health and sexual health. MAP and four of our local Palestinian NGO partners – Naba’a, Najdeh, NISCVT, and Tadamon – have also been celebrating International Women’s Day since 2014, as part of a larger program to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in the Palestinian context in Lebanon.
This project is conducted in partnership with UNICEF and UNRWA, Over two years, more than 10,000 women and girls have participated in its various activities. At least 3,000 women attended this year, with activities conducted at 18 community centres in nine camps and many gatherings across Lebanon.
The 45,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria now in Lebanon have fled desperate conflict and siege. In their multiple-displacement, they are unable to register for support from UNHCR or international resettlement programmes, and must instead rely on UNRWA’s increasingly-stretched services.
Click here to learn more about the challenges faced by Palestinian refugees from Syria, and help call for their protection by signing our petition.
You can support our work with refugee women and Palestinian communities in Lebanon by donating today!
