On the Road to a Civil Code

Abstract

This thesis researches the influence of women’s rights movements on the reform of personal status laws in Lebanon, in particular which discourse strategies are used to influence reform. In the first chapter Lebanon’s history and confessional political system is analyzed. The second chapter focusses on the Arab debate on PSL reform in several MENA countries. The third chapter on Lebanese PSL reform shows the two discourse strategies used by actors in the field; namely secular and religious. The last chapter uses the recent reforms on the Druze PSL in Lebanon as a case-study to show the discourse strategies of women’s organizations.