Lina Abou-Habib is fighting inequality, working to change laws that make it difficult for women to keep custody of their children and block residency for children in a mother’s home country.
This article is part of a Women and Leadership special report highlighting women who are charting new pathways and fighting for opportunities for women and others.
Growing up in Beirut, Lebanon, Lina Abou-Habib regularly faced discrimination because of her gender and witnessed inequality for women, she said. “People think of Lebanon as a contemporary, open country, but there are many laws that discriminate against women,” she said.
As an example, women who seek divorces, even if they are in abusive marriages, risk losing custody of their children. In Lebanon, family law is governed by religious courts, and often favors fathers in custody disputes. “I’ve had more than one friend who is being physically abused by her husband but is too afraid to leave for fear of never seeing her children again,” Ms. Abou-Habib said.
She also pointed to Lebanon’s nationality law. Ms. Abou-Habib, 62, the director of the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut, where she also teaches, has made it her life’s mission to change the 1925 law, which states that children’s citizenship is based on the nationality of their father, even if their mother is Lebanese.
That means if a Lebanese woman marries a man from another country, their children are not considered Lebanese citizens, and must apply for legal residency. “They will forever be viewed as aliens in the country of their mothers,” Ms. Abou-Habib said. “They don’t have the right to attend public schools, take a government job or vote.”
Ms. Abou-Habib has lived through the experience firsthand. Her husband is from a neighboring Arab country, and their Beirut-born daughter will never legally be a Lebanese citizen.
The Asfari Institute researches social justice movements in the region, including in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco, and connects activists with academia to collaborate on social change. It also regularly partners with U.N. Women on research projects.