Suzanne Challenges Gender Stereotypes in Tripoli, North Lebanon / Lebanon

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“I love these photos because I can see that my boxing technique is right”, 20-year-old Suzanne says as she carefully swipes through some of her photos during training while pointing at her hand and foot placements. Suzanne is the only girl among twenty-two students, who enrolled in the security-guard course at Safadi Foundation’s training centre ‘SAVOTEC’. Being from a traditional household in Tripoli -Lebanon, Suzanne was struggling to convince her mother and  four brothers of her decision to seek a career in security and defence, especially as they have been very protective of her since her father passed away six years ago.  “It wasn’t until after my mother visited the training centre and spoke to my trainer, social worker, and the centre’s manager who all told her about my achievements and potential that she felt proud of me and gave me her blessing”, Suzanne continues, while highlighting the challenges of being a young woman in a patriarchal society.

Suzanne is one of 1,500 youth – 50 percent of whom are female - developing their technical and personal skills at SAVOTEC. Safadi Foundation aims to develop the employability of refugee and host community youth through twenty-one accelerated vocational training courses specific to main sectors of high employment demand and personal development training programmes. Vocational training courses include topics such as welding, boat maintenance, plumbing, elderly and infant care, waitering, among others. Safadi Foundation also provides external accreditations to 330 merited graduates, as well as engages the private sector to secure end-of-training internship placements for 600 project graduates, and facilitates access to employment for 600 graduates over the course of three years.

“I think my brothers eventually accepted my decision for two reasons” Suzanne explains, “First, they had to because I was very stubborn, and second because they felt at ease knowing that the training is not only about strengthening my body, it’s also about installing alarm and fire systems, operating different types of metal detectors, among many other things”. Also, as the security situation has been declining in Lebanon since late 2019, Suzanne is determined that women are needed in the security sector now more than ever. “You cannot expect male security guards to inspect women, so there needs to be more female guards around!”

Suzanne has been a happier person, since she began training in something she loves and is good at; she also is grateful that the other students in her class are very helpful and cooperative. “In the beginning, my [male] classmates were pretty careful around me, but now I think they got used to the idea and have been a major support”. Since she enrolled in the course around a month ago, Suzanne has been encouraging other women in her community to enrol as well.  Safadi Foundation’s Outreach Officer, Salam, believes Suzanne broke a gender barrier; “We are currently receiving many applications from females who are interested in joining the security-guard course.”

Download fact sheet for more information about RDPP’s partnership with Safadi Foundation