The project “Women and Municipalities” was initiated by Center for Women in Crisis (CWIC) – established by Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) – in August 2009. The project aimed at promoting women’s participation in the political life of Lebanon in preparation for the 2010 municipal elections. The capacity building of a selected number of women was paralleled by a public awareness campaign about the important issue of low participation of women in politics, evaluated at 4% nationally. The teaser-revealer kicked off with an intriguing, slightly mysterious, take on the electorial portrait with featureless silhouettes of women and the Arabic slogan “Baad Nakess”, which literally means “Still Missing” but is also an expression of disagreement in colloquial Lebanese. The revealer came in the form of a poster, a billboard network donated by Pikasso, and a TV spot, documenting the first set of portraits in their context and completing the empowerment message.
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Women and Municipalities-Portraits
The teaser posters for the campaign read between electorial portraits and missing person announcements.
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Women and Municipalities-Portraits in context
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Women and Municipalities-Portrait interventions
Whether with pen or flame, the temptation to fill an empty face is almost universal. In this case, some of the masculine features added onto clearly female silhouettes can be quite telling.
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Women and Municipalities-Revealer poster
The message of the revealer poster begins by laying down the numbers: less than 4% participation by women in politics, and ends with “you have what it takes (you are missing nothing) to partake in decision-making”.
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Women and Municipalities-Revealer billboard
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Women and Municipalities-Revealer TVC
Directed by Alain Sauma, the TV spot was shown on six local stations, and is the final message in the campaign where the face is literally revealed.
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Women and Municipalities-Press clippings
The campaign’s slogan proved very popular with media and was used in headlines by daily press journals covering the initiative.
