Understanding Backlash in Lebanon

Abstract

Facing this insidious matrix of patriarchal structures, women in Lebanon and feminists in particular are left with a few avenues for action. As explored in this paper from the Arab Institute of Women, the exclusion, discrimination, and violence that women in Lebanon face occurs in all spheres of life. These challenges are a result of entrenched power structures that flow from family systems into the social and political institutions as well as the state. However, the non-governmental sphere remains an important breathing space and a safe haven for feminists and gender justice actors to network and build solidarity. That said, the definition of backlash in mainstream literature as a hostile reaction or response to a destabilization in the status-quo does not hold in this context, where violence is pervasive, structural, and embedded in the very systems making up our families, communities, and state.