UN Women Lebanon Launches Podcast Series Exploring Key Topics on Gender Equality

Story originally published on UN Women Lebanon‘s website.

Beirut, Lebanon (UN Women, October 2, 2023) – UN Women Lebanon launched today its first podcast series “UN Women Podcasts” to amplify the voices of women and girls in Lebanon and celebrate their remarkable achievements in multiple fields and the challenges that lie ahead.

The 3-episode series produced in Arabic, with English subtitles, aims to amplify the criticality of gender equality as the linchpin of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by celebrating the progress and immense potential of women and girls in Lebanon while highlighting the challenges they faced in their gender quality journey.

With the first episode launched this Wednesday October 4, 2023, and the two following episodes scheduled for Wednesday October 11 and Wednesday October 18, the first series of podcasts hosted by elite mountaineer Joyce Azzam and UN Women National Goodwill Ambassador for Lebanon, and co-hosted by UN Women Lebanon will highlight key issues affecting the situation of women and girls in Lebanon, including women and girls in sports, and the experiences of women with disabilities.

UN Women Lebanon's Representative, Gielan Elmessiri, said “UN Women is proud to contribute to the positive conversation around women and girls’ rights in Lebanon. Throughout this series we will bring important topics into the mainstream and explore how women and girls’ leadership is helping to challenge gender stereotypes and level the playing field so that all women and girls have equal opportunities to thrive in their chosen fields”.

In the first episode “Reinvention of self”, Joyce Azzam, UN Women National Goodwill Ambassador for Lebanon, talks with host Roula Rached from UN Women Lebanon about the struggles she encountered as the first Lebanese woman mountaineer to climb all seven summits of the world. She examines the challenges she has faced, to be given equal opportunities and how she contributes, in her role as UN Women National Goodwill Ambassador for Lebanon, to achieving gender equality, in and through sports. She adds: “I have learned a lot from the journeys of these remarkable women and their empowering experiences. This series allows us to demonstrate how sports has the power to change lives and drive gender equality, and how women with disabilities, as individuals or within organizations dedicated to the rights of persons with disabilities, are informing disability–inclusive action at all levels”.

In the second episode “Two generations of women in sports”, Joyce Azam discusses with Ghina Chahwan, parkour athlete, the complex barriers and deep-rooted negative attitudes that are affecting girls’ enjoyment of sports and causing their disengagement from physical activity at a young age. The episode which will be launched to mark the International Day of the Girl Child, also tackles the important role of media in reporting on gender inequalities and portraying women and men fairly in sports.

Noelle Tyan, president of the Lebanese Universities League for the Blind (LULB), is the guest of the third episode “Amplifying the voice of women with disabilities”, she explores with Joyce Azzam the multiple discrimination women with disabilities face, the implementation of law No. 220, which secures the basic rights for the disabled in Lebanon, and the recent ratification, at national level, of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Joyce Azzam was announced as UN Women Lebanon National Goodwill Ambassador in January 2022. In partnership with UN Women, she supports efforts to advance gender equality and women's rights in Lebanon.

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Check out podcast series below!

All podcasts are available on Spotify, and YouTube.

* The views expressed in the podcast series are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of UN Women.