Lebanon has at last managed to appoint a cabinet, almost two months after its parliament elected Michel Aoun as President. However, some of the ministerial choices are raising eyebrows in the country.
Most particularly, the selection for the nation’s first ever women’s minister has tickled the Lebanese public. Jean Ogasapian, a 62-year-old man with a lengthy army career, has been deemed the most appropriate representative for women’s issues in government.
Many in Lebanon have expressed their consternation via Twitter:
اذا كانت لبنان وهي اكثر البلدان العربية تقدما في مسألة الحريات حطوا رجل وزير لشؤون المرأة يعني البقية ماعليهم شرهة ومامنهم امل.
— منصور (@mansourdentist) December 20, 2016
If Lebanon, one of the countries of the Middle East which is most advanced with regards to women's rights, has placed a man as the Minister for Women's Affairs, then there is no hope for the rest.
In the ultimate act of mansplaining, it has been announced that Lebanon's first ever Minister for Women's Affairs will be a man.
— Nasri Atallah (@NasriAtallah) December 19, 2016
وزير الشباب والرياضة شخص مهذب وهادئ وكبير في السن.
— Mohammad ن Fheili (@MIFheili1960) December 20, 2016
وزير الدولة لشؤون المرأة هو رجل.
افلس #لبنان في العنصر الشبابي والنسائي.
مبروك الحكومة
Minister of Youth and Sports gets a stern, inactive old man. The Minister of State for Women's Affairs is a man. Lebanon you have failed the youth and female demographics. Congratulations government.
The appointment has proved excellent material for Twitter's satirists:
في حكومة لبنان: وزير الشباب مسن ووزيرة المرأة رجل ووزير الصحة مهندس ووزير الثقافة طبيب.
— ياسين ابو رائد (@yaceeno) December 19, 2016
The Government of Lebanon: the Minister of Youth is an elderly man, the Minister for Women is a man, the Minister of Health is an engineer and the Minister of Culture is a doctor!
جان اوغاسبيان وزير دولة لشؤون المرأة #حكومه_لبنان pic.twitter.com/Klt8zr0Cis
— Wael (@waelhnehme) December 18, 2016
However, others couldn't see what was so funny:
وزير دوله رجل لشؤون المرأه،،،،شو الغريب،،الكوافير رجل،،الطباخ رجل،،،،فاشون ديزاينر رجل،،،،،دوله فهمانه الوضع،،،،امنع الضحك #بلا_مزح #لبنان
— الزهراء (@freedomeknight) December 18, 2016
The Minister of State for Women's Affairs... what's so strange? Hair dressers are men... Cooks are men.... Fashion designers are men... The state has understood the matter correctly... I will not allow laughter #NoJoke
Women's rights are no laughing matter in the country. Out of Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament just four are held by women, and only a single female minister has been selected for the new government. There is some hope for change, however, as Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to implement a women’s quota, used elsewhere in the Middle East, ahead of the upcoming June elections.
The new unity government encompasses figures from across the political and sectarian spectrum. Many hope that it will bring stability to the country, which is currently facing pressure as a result of tensions boiling over from neighboring Syria.
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