Women’s street-level mobilisation for independence and political rights

Women marched alongside men, demanding the release of Sheikh Bshara el-Khoury, Lebanon’s newly elected president post-independence; Prime Minister Riyad al-Solh; as well as other members of the Cabinet, from prison ¹. Protesters also demanded that the Declaration of Independence be issued. The presidents of the Women’s Union, Eveline Boustros (elected in 1943) and Ibtihaj Qaddoura (elected in 1945), led a number of demonstrations affirming that “a woman is no longer solely for the home, because the whole world can no longer do without her services.” ²