Mother’s Day: paying tribute to second-class citizens

Motherhood is undoubtedly revered and venerated across the nation. Ask people what the word mother evokes and a wide range of extraordinary answers will most certainly abound – regardless of their age, gender, social class, education, religion, political views or anything else for that matter. Yet when the topic of mothers is raised in connection with their rights, the picture that emerges is startlingly different. A simple marital union – regardless of the denomination at stake – places women in a subservient position. In fact, an overwhelming majority of denominations forbid the mother from guardianship rights, thus depriving her from legal authority over her children. That is precisely why a mother cannot open a bank account for her minor child, request that a passport be issued for their son or daughter, or even travel with her own child, as all of these steps require the permission of the guardian. A divorced or widowed mother is merely granted custody of her children – a “privilege” curtailed by its limited duration and revocability. To be sure, a mother who chooses to remarry or one who is accused of being an unfit mother – a matter that is open to wide interpretation – automatically loses custody of her offspring.

Limited improvements have been achieved granting married women protection against violence within the framework of a marriage. Civil society’s years of campaigning pressured the government to pass a law protecting women suffering from domestic violence. Yet their colossal efforts were met with a weak and incomplete law – one that incidentally fails to criminalize marital rape.

The gendered nature of the law is also evident in the civil realm. A flagrant example that affects women as mothers and citizens alike is that Lebanese mothers are not able to pass their citizenship to their own children. Despite the nation-state’s promise that all citizens are equal under the law, asserted by Article 7 of the Lebanese Constitution, Lebanese women are discriminated against in both civil and religious realms. Notwithstanding such blatant inequality, there seems to be very little effort by the nation-state to accommodate its female citizens.

Concretely, the Lebanese nation-state relegates mothers to the function of reproducers and caretakers. Paradoxically, women themselves participate in their own discrimination by subordinating themselves to men and the gender-biased nation. Not only this, but women ensure the continuity of the nation by mothering and bringing up good citizens who in turn uphold laws and concepts that are detrimental to women. Unless the nation-state resolves itself to making complete and effective changes to current legislation, this eulogized day will only pay tribute to an illustrious mother who is in effect an incapacitated parent and a second-class citizen.

Dr. Mida Zantout is professor of cultural studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Balamand-Koura, Lebanon.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on March 21, 2015, on page 2.

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