Maharat Foundation and Madanyat also launch the "Media and Gender Monitoring of the 2023 Municipal Elections" report for the month of February, as a continuation of the monitoring and documentation carried out by Maharat and Madanyat during the last parliamentary elections in 2022.

This first report was based on the methodology of listening groups within local communities through listening groups and social listening sessions with women activists in the political field in Beirut (9 women activists), Saida (13 women activists), and Zouq Mosbeh (9 women activists). The participants filled out 29 questionnaires, as the relevant content was monitored. In addition, relevant content on social media was monitored to stay within the loop of the public discourse on women's participation in municipal elections and on any kind of violence within that context.

87.4% of the 29 female participants agreed that there is violence against women in the political field. The forms of violence against women in politics varied, between general social violence within the municipal council, economic violence, and digital violence.

The results shows the differences between violence against women and against men in the political field, due to the familial, political, ideological and financial obstacles that society enforce on women and makes them vulnerable to psychological and physical harassment.

It turned out that the tolerance of women’s activity in municipal work differs from accepting their presence in parliamentary work, due to the different ideological nature of each Lebanese village according to its culture and traditions.

The Marsad VAWP Program, led by Maharat Foundation and Madanyat, and supported by the United Nations Women’s Agency, seeks to monitor violence against women in politics, during the period extending to the 2023 municipal elections, to document and analyze the public discourse; To better understand violence against women in public life within the privacy and transparency of local elections, aiming on influencing the debate on women's participation in the political life as well as eliminating all kinds of discrimination and gender violence.

To check the report:
Media and Gender Monitoring of the 2023 Municipal Elections