Anissa Rawda Najjar: A renowned rural women’s rights activist

Anissa Rawda Najjar was a lifelong advocate of rural women’s rights, her activism spanning over 45 years(1)Myriam Sfeir, “Meeting Sitt Anissa Rawda Najjar,” in “Women in Agriculture,” Al-Raida, Vol. 15, Issue 79, Fall 1997, p. 41, available at: http://alraidajournal.com/index.php/ALRJ/article/view/734  (last accessed 8 March 2018) . In 1951, she established the Village Welfare Society (VWS) with Eveline Bostrous, which was one of the first women’s associations to be concerned with rural women(2)Musleh al-Habahibah, وجوه نسائية من لبنان, Lebanon, 1998, p. 86-87. . She represented Lebanon in several international and Arab conferences, including the Arab Women’s Union conventions in 1953 and 1956. In 1977, she became the vice president of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom.