is not only true in areas of this world
with armed conflict it is also true in
our society why should we accept in
justices ever summon justices are so
rooted in our society we have become
completely blind to them and tend to
think that there’s nothing that we can
do about them and if there were well
that somebody else would figure it out
for us well if everyone thinks this way
how are we ever going to progress I
began my quest for justice at a very
young age when our family circumstances
changed drastically because of a
terrible thing called war it was 1975 I
was only seven years old and too young
to understand how what seemed to be only
sectarian tensions turned into a
full-scale civil war that lasted more
than 15 years in Lebanon it is at that
time that I first realized how a
powerful group of individuals could have
a say on the lives of millions of people
how they were going to live where they
were going to live were they even going
to live I will not get into the details
of one of the most complex conflicts of
modern history it is also one of the
most covered by the media worldwide but
let’s just say that like in any conflict
it is the civilian population who
suffered the most and had the least to
say a handful of decision-makers had
full control and brought the country to
its knees we used to hear about
airstrikes dead wounded invasions
withdrawals change of Allegiance
betrayals end of a ceasefire these were
the words that we heard the most during
our childhood not amusement parks
picnics or birthday parties the war
lasted more than 15 years and ended at
the end of 1990 resulting in massive
loss of human life and infrastructure
while devastating the country’s economy
it is estimated that a hundred and fifty
thousand people were killed and another
200 thousand wounded nearly a million
civilians were displaced by the war and
some never returned to this day
Lebanon’s political system continues to
be divided along sectarian lines during
that time the little girl who already
had a very strong understanding of the
difference between wrong and right
who was forming her own set of beliefs
and values was beginning to build up
anger against these adults who were
behaving in such disappointing and
erratic ways as I was growing up I
started observing some injustice around
me and some still follow me to this day
the first thing that hit me at the time
was the violence and discrimination
against the hired help
in Lebanon most not to say all families
from middle to upper-class have one or
more maids usually from either the
Philippines or Sri Lanka women would
spend years in Lebanon working every
hour of every day they would send most
of their wages to care for an aging
child a family member in need back home
unbelievable sense of sacrifice had
about the same magnitude as the selfish
sense of entitlement that the families
that were working for demonstrated every
family member even the youngest child
behaved as if that woman was their
property not a property that you would
cherish her protect no a property that
you would you n abuse some of these
women were raped beaten had their
passports confiscated and some ended up
enrolled in modern-day slavery
how could these bosses think that any
human deserved to have their rights
taken away the right to a decent life to
dignity to building a future to getting
a day off once in a while to traveling
back home to see those very people they
were making all those sacrifices for
instead they were only left serving one
family
at the cost of their freedom and
physical and mental health as I was
maturing I continued observing around me
other as misses and what I noticed was
that those who were the most
discriminated against in the society
were women a Lebanese woman cannot give
the Lebanese citizenship to her foreign
husband or children but a Lebanese man
can of course what we arrested and put
in prison for a period ranging between
two months and two years if commits
adultery only wants her male partner in
the same act is not arrested unless he
performs the act in his marital home
with a woman who is his permanent
mistress and has had written
correspondence with that woman and the
correspondence is found of course now if
all those points are miraculously met
his imprisonment period will still be
only half of the woman’s these are only
some examples while I was pondering what
seemed to be in my opinion nothing but
sheer madness I started having a distant
dream that in the Western civilization
all motions of unfair treatment of women
in equality or injustice would be
banished I was convinced when I arrived
in a beautiful and peaceful land called
Canada that the young feminists that
were stemming in me would finally be
relieved and have her no more battles to
fight
I quickly realized that my view is way
too idealistic and what was closer to
the truth was eight out of ten victims
of violent crimes are women worldwide
more than one out of three women have
experienced physical or sexual violence
in their lifetime
those who are supposed to love protect
and cherish these women their intimate
partners commit 38 percent of their
murders the United Nations declared that
violence against women and girls is a
problem of pandemic proportions
I felt once again so helpless but I
decided to take the negative energy the
negative feelings and the anger that was
bottled up in me during all those years
of war and channeled my energy in a
positive fashion to help make a
difference in the lives of women who had
nothing left but a glimpse of hope for
the past 15 years and until this day I
have been heavily involved on boards and
committees of three different women’s
shelters who catered to the needs of
women ranging from those battling
addictions and homelessness to those who
need our support for job hunting skills
and housing many of these women are
running away from domestic violence
trying to put their life back on track
rebuilding themselves both physically
and emotionally our support allows these
women to come out of their isolation
regain their children’s custody and find
stability and balance in their lives
what I have discovered in the process is
that many of these women have actually
completed high school some even went to
university and all the way to the
master’s level regardless of
socioeconomic status nobody is immune in
parallel to all this my own insertion in
the Quebec Society was going wonderfully
well I very quickly climbed the ladder
in the corporate world and discovered
that even women who seem to be powerful
and have it all we’re also discriminated
against although they can post 52% of
the population only 5% of women are CEOs
and only 15.9% sit on boards
these statistics are alarming and it is
everyone’s responsibility both men and
women to make a change not only because
it is the ethical thing to do but
because companies with a greater number
of women at the executive level around
the board’s tend to perform better
financially there’s actually nothing
more powerful than men and women who put
their brains and visions together to
achieve results no matter the age origin
occupation or education all women are
impacted by the gender wage gap and earn
an average seventy two cents for every
dollar earned by men in the u.s. the top
two highest-paid male CEOs make more
than the top 10 highest paid female CEOs
put together a few people realize the
magnitude of the gender wage gap and
many think that at least at the start
line everyone is equal
well even that is false male dishwashers
make an average 20% more than female
dishwashers now can someone explain that
yet I regularly get told that it should
stop talking about the gender equality
issue that it’s a waste of time because
we’ve already reached equality then men
and women have the same chances in life
and that I’m completely outdated these
people tell me I should get with the
program and look around me women are
strong powerful and have made it when I
explained the situation to them they’re
surprised as striking as they realized
they had only scratched the surface and
that reality is actually a lot crueler
towards women than they thought they
they quickly become a strong supporter
of the cause the current pool of
talented women in the business force
with business skills experience and
education far exceeds their
representation at the highest levels in
an attempt to bridge that gap I have
founded in 2010 a not-for-profit to
encourage women to develop their
leadership advance their career and
access board seats our team is composed
of both men and women who strive to
encourage women to be more empowered
visible and self-confident we sensitize
corporations to the importance of parity
and the positive impact of parody on
their financial performance under
branding and on their culture we also
support them on policies that they need
to put in place in order to reach that
parity we encourage male leaders to
sponsor these women and accelerate their
career advancement we collectively
reached a level of blatant injustice
towards women it’s about time that we
collectively put an end to this absurd
situation so that we can be proud of the
legacy to our future generations I know
I want to make the little girl who was
angry and disappointed in a bomb shelter
in Beirut proud of the women that I have
become standing for what she believes in
and empowering other women to do the
same together our voices will be awesome no Watson I told you gbmac