Women's Leadership Training - Libya

Yesterday, I gave part of my women’s leadership training to 20 women leaders in Tripoli. It was, as always, a fascinating day of conversation. I am always amazed at the strength of women. It emanates when they are gathered together. They come from a variety of backgrounds from across the country. Most wear hijab, but a few do not. Some are in their 50s and some are in their 20s. Some speak English, but most do not. All are pretty educated and passionate.

As we reviewed the basic definitions of sex and gender (“women have babies: biological fact, women must be the main caretakers of their families: socially assigned gender role), there was an immediate surge toward debating gender equality concerns. Many issues raised were the usual facts of gender discrimination: women work longer hours for little credit and men are the decision-makers. But a unique spin on the usual frustrations of gender inequality was the post-Arab Spring atmosphere. There has been some news that post-Arab Spring is not exactly the picture of democracy that the West was hoping for. Egypt is an obvious example, where Morsi continues to retract rights of everyone, especially in the public sphere.  The debate about women’s rights in Egypt is underscored by very public and verified physical and sexual assaults.

In Libya, while a majority of the post-Arab Spring’s spotlight is focused elsewhere, there has been a steady erosion of women’s rights and freedom. Women were active during the Revolution. For the first time in Libyan history, women were out on the streets, regularly protesting and fighting for their freedom. Now this space is shrinking. There are legitimate fears that a lack of centralized security makes it dangerous for women, so there is self-imposed restriction of movement. Few women travel on their own and especially at night. One woman told me, “I used to go out up until 11pm before the revolution, but I am on my own in Tripoli and now I try to be home by 7pm.”

There is also, however, a growing conservative movement, influenced brusquely by Salafist extremists, who have instigated tales of women being hassled when on their own, especially those who do not appear “Islamic” enough.

Perhaps less obviously but potentially more devastating is the systemic erosion of women’s rights that is happening in Libya. When the new government formed last year, one of the first official acts was to allow multiple wives for men. One would think that in the dawn of Libya’s democracy there would be priorities ahead of this.

It continues. 

Last week, a new law was passed to re-instate the High Electoral Commission in Libya. In the prior version there was a clause that stated that women must be present on the HNEC. That clause is absent for the law that just passed. Voila, the absence of women is now an institutional fact, or, more accurately, the presence of women is no longer required.

The energy of the women in the room is unbridled, but the space to channel this energy is closing. It is a race against time. Yet, much of the conversation is about what happened or the current state of things in Libya. Can these women look to the future? Can they pull together and plan an equality offense?

The role of the two week training is to empower women through skills building and networking. Today’s review and debate about equality will be followed by a comprehensive list of desired topics: leadership, communication, ethics, crisis management, advocacy, etc.

Along the way these skills will be greatly enhanced by the rich conversation, debate and experience of these 20 women.