Sarah Lynch,
Lebanese women sunbathe at a pool in Beirut. (AFP photo)
August 22, 2010
When two Lebanese customers and their maid tried to enter the Sporting Club Swimming Center in Ras Beirut last month, they were greeted by a disheartening response. “I do not allow maids in,” said a man at the entrance. Though unwelcomed, the reception was not unexpected, as discriminatory practices are quiet common in many local institutions. To educate the public about racist and classist policies in action, IndyACT’s Anti-Racism Movement recorded the Sporting rejection on a video that quickly went viral in the Lebanese blogosphere and beyond. Many other activist organizations are also taking a stand on this issue. Hibr Journalists, a citizen media outlet, called 36 beach resorts in Lebanon last week and asked about their policies regarding domestic workers.
The organization found that three of the 36 resorts forbid access completely to domestic workers, while 14 allow them inside but forbid them from using the pools. Five resorts allow them inside but won’t let them swim at all, even in the sea. Fourteen of the 36 beach clubs give full access to domestic workers and allow them to swim in both the pools and the sea.
Though nonprofits and journalists have shown a spotlight on a number of local businesses, the increased attention has yet to change any policies. In fact, Sporting Club’s public relations manager defended the establishment in a statement following the release of the IndyACT tape.
“The Sporting Club swimming Center has a standing policy of not allowing in ANY maids, nannys, escorts, body guards, [or] personal assistants,” Waleed Abu Nasser wrote in an online letter that stirred the blogosphere. He did not provide a reason for the rule.
Spokespeople for other resorts explained. “We hire people to take care of the kids who come to our resort,” said Rita Faddoul of the Riviera Beach Hotel and Resort, one of the three destinations that forbid access to domestic workers. “Our pool is so packed that the workers would just be sitting there in their clothes.” Faddoul said that domestic workers could maybe be admitted if they came on their free time and not with their employers and if we did not know they were domestics.
But she thought this unlikely since they could probably not afford the price of admission – 40,000 LL on weekends – noting that domestic workers, would also have to “look decent.”
A manager of Achrafieh’s Les Creneaux, which also forbids entry to domestic workers, gave his reason for the policy but not his name. “We don’t have space in our club for domestic helpers,” he said. “I mean, domestic workers—will they participate in the gym activities?”
Unlike the Sporting Club, Riviera Beach Resort and Les Creneaux, 19 of the 36 questioned resorts allow domestic workers entry, but either forbid them from swimming, or only allow them to swim in the sea.
Some resort managers say they are simply appealing to their clientele, made up of mostly Lebanese or tourists from the Gulf countries. "Hotels and resorts are based on meeting and exceeding the expectations of our clientele," said Rana Younes, marketing manager of the Coral Beach Hotel and Resort in Jnah. "Our guests are mainly from the GCC countries and get bothered from the presence of foreign domestic workers with them in the swimming pool. Thus, we have to respect that, as guests always come first at hotels." Abbas Talhini of Al Jisr beach resort in Damour, which forbids workers from using the pool, gave a similar response. “I personally recognize that this is racism and this is wrong, but we are catering to society,” he said.
Several beach resort managers NOW Lebanon contacted avoided giving a reason for their policies. A manager at Samar Beach in Maameltein hung up the phone when NOW Lebanon inquired about their policy. Other resorts never returned NOW’s calls. “How would a Lebanese person feel if they go abroad and they are denied entry into a club or beach because the owner or bouncer happens to not like Arabs, or Lebanese?” Nadim Houry, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch Beirut, said. “I’m sure all Lebanese would hate that.” Houry and other human rights activists argue that catering to customers’ tastes is not reason enough to enforce what they say are racist and classicist policies. “When a client’s position goes against basic human rights and fundamental decency, institutions, be they public or private, have an obligation to counter these desires,” he said. “Otherwise, all societies would be catering to the whims of racists.” “[The managers] say people are not comfortable with domestic workers swimming. Well, make them comfortable with it,” Houry said. But institutions have no legal obligations when it comes to admitting or denying guests, or putting restrictions on who can swim. With the lack of a national anti-discrimination law, beach resorts and clubs can, and do, legally turn people down at the door as they please.
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