Women, education, and socialization in modern Lebanon

by Mirna Lattouf

In 2000, a United Nations report on gender discrimination indicated that bias was overwhelmingly due to socialization, or informal learning, as expressed through cultural values, norms, and traditions. Governments investigated in the report cited cultural relativity, such as harmful laws and customs, as a major element of concern. The Lebanese case mimics international trends in the unwillingness to confront and reinterpret strict and rigid ideologies, which limit the transformation of female educational progress into change in women's societal roles.