Dr Azza Baydoun has analysed every ‘honour killing' in Lebanon that has gone before the courts since 1999 and found that behind the plea of offended honour lies the crime of femicide. The women were shot, stabbed, beaten, strangled, burnt or poisoned, by men, because they were women: if they had been men they would not have been killed. Dr Baydoun talked to Jane Gabriel in Beirut about the patriarchal concepts of ‘deviant women' and ‘deficient men' in her research.
Dr Baydoun's research is part of the movement behind the introduction of Lebanon's first ever law to protect women against violence. The draft Family Violence Bill is now being considered by the government and the campaign to have it passed into law is being run by KAFA.
Professor Azza Baydoun teaches at the Lebanese University in Beirut. She is the author of a number of books including ‘Manhood and the Change in women's State of Affairs'. Annahar Publishing House (2007) and ‘Women and Associations: The Lebanese women between doing justice to themselves and serving others'. Annahar Publishing House, Beirut. (2002)
This is the first in a series of podcasts on openDemocracy amplifying the voices of women from across the Arab region.
