Progress Amid Resistance

LEBANON 265Inheritance laws differ between religious communities. Non-Muslimsare subject to the 1959 Civil Law of Inheritance, which imposes completeequality between men and women, both in terms of the right to inheritand the share of inheritance. Muslims abide by the inheritance rules establishedunder Shari‘a provisions according to their respective sects. Undersuch rules, a man generally inherits twice as much as a woman. In addition,Muslims can only inherit from and bequeath to other Muslims, sothat even the non-Muslim widow of a Muslim man cannot inherit partof his estate. Members of non-Muslim denominations are free to leavetheir estates to whomever they see fit, regardless of religion. 44 Althoughwomen are legally entitled to inherit land, they often cede their share totheir brothers, as social norms dictate that land should be retained by themale line. In return, the brothers are expected to financially support theirsingle sisters, although this trend is gradually subsiding as more womenjoin the labor market.No legal restrictions limit women’s right to start their own business or getinvolved in income-generating activities. The number of enterprises ownedby women is increasing among the middle and upper-middle income groups,while women in the lower income brackets often head small businesses andmicroenterprises. 45 However, female ownership does not necessarily meanfemale management. In the Middle East and North Africa region as a whole,only 54 percent of female business owners also act as managers for theirenterprises, compared with 90 percent for male owners. 46The proportion of women who participate in the labor force has in -creased slowly over time, rising from about 21 percent in 1980 to 27 percentin 2007, although the figures remained largely static over the last fiveyears. 47 The historical growth is partly attributable to governmental andsocietal investments in education. Women have enjoyed access to educationalopportunities since the 19th century, and even older generationsof Lebanese women are mostly literate. Of women aged 15 and older,86 percent were literate as of 2007, compared with 93.4 percent of menfrom the same age group. This gender gap is markedly narrower than thatof neighboring countries, and it entirely disappears among those aged 15to 24 years old. In that group, 99.1 percent of women and 98.4 percentof men were literate as of 2007. 48 However, illiteracy is more commonamong rural women. Of women from Beirut, 5.6 percent are illiterateor not enrolled in school, compared with 8 percent of the women in theprovinces of North Lebanon and 13.4 percent of the women in the Bekaa