Libya: controversy after the Prime Minister's remarks on single women
Interim Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah Abdulhamid Dbeibah in November 2021 © Mahmud TURKIA / AFP
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1 min
Acting Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah has sparked widespread controversy over his statements about single women.
The demands for an apology from Libyans have multiplied, including from men.
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In wanting to promote the marriage bonus on Tuesday, December 28, the head of the government suggested that he wanted to institute a “
bonus
” to encourage the marriage of mature Libyan women, considering that an unmarried woman is not accomplished.
His remarks comparing the woman to a commodity or almost had shocked civil society.
One of the presidential candidates, Othman Abdeljalil, is one of his men who say they are outraged.
According to Oum el-Ezz el-Farsi, member of the Libyan Forum for Political Dialogue, the Prime Minister's remarks "
do not respect men or women
".
"
Women are not a commodity that we sell and buy,
" she replied.
The indignation was also echoed by hundreds of women academics, lawyers, politicians and intellectuals.
All felt that the interim head of state had exceeded the limits of what was acceptable and must apologize.
When a prime minister considers a woman to be almost a commodity, and that she is incomplete if she is not married, when social status or marital status has nothing to do with qualifications or personality of a person, this implies that he has only a simplistic vision of the unmarried woman: according to him she would only seek to marry.
Rihab Shnyb, Libyan writer: "We are very angry"
Houda Ibrahim
A misunderstanding, according to the Prime Minister
More surprisingly, the position of Faiza al-Bacha, head of the Faculty of Rights at the University of Tripoli.
She invited Abdel Hamid Dbeibah personally to attend the January 4 conference on "
verbal violence against women
".
The Prime Minister tried this evening to defuse this controversy by announcing that he had spoken "
spontaneously, [...] in popular dialect
".
"
Those who create this controversy do not know the spoken language of the ancients,
" he defended himself, without convincing.
►
To read also: After the postponement of the presidential election in Libya, candidates call for the departure of Dbeibah
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