This is a very interesting and thorough article written by Maya Mikdashi on the applications of the Lebanese legal system specifically regarding the Lebanese women.

Some of the laws are truly absurd and highly demeaning to women, and even though i believe that women in Lebanon have established a certain status-quo that goes without applying those laws, this does not justify their presence, except the citizenship issue which should be dealt with more carefully.

Here are few excerpts from those laws:
– Women cannot pass on Lebanese citizenship to their spouses or children.
– Women are either registered under their father’s family census record or their husband’s.
– Women can travel freely unless their husband lists their names (through the general security office) at all relevant points of international travel.
– Under article 562, women are positioned as the potential victims; they cannot kill for “honor”, but they can be killed for “honor”.
– Women who are consensually penetrated anally by men can be punished for unnatural sexual intercourse according to 534.

PS: Check kafa.org.lb for more information on gender-based violence and exploitation of women and children.