Lebanese town recruits policewomen in shorts to 'attract tourists'

Over the weekend, the touristic town of Brummana made headlines and caused a heated online debate for two reasons: hiring policewomen and having them wear mini shorts. 

In anticipation of a busy summer season, the municipality - located in Mount Lebanon - hired a team of young women to help out with traffic enforcement and regulations.

"We are working with an esteemed municipality and we're college students," Samantha Saad, a newly hired policewoman working with Brummana's municipality, told Al Jadeed TV. 

"We wanted this to be our summer job, one that would leave us with memories," Saad added.

Subsequently, heads were turned as soon as their photos were uploaded on the internet. The images show young Lebanese women wearing black t-shirts, black mini shorts, white shoes, and a red beret.

"Are shorts a disgrace now?" asked Brummana's mayor, Pierre Achkar, in an interview with Annahar. 

"We've been told Lebanon has a negative image in the West, which isn't encouraging tourists to visit. So this was our move to prove this image wrong," Achkar explained. 

According to former Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Ziad Baroud, the Lebanese law has no mention of a specific dress code when it comes to contracted police officers working with municipalities. 

 "We had a board that was trying to unite all municipality police officers' uniforms once, but nothing tangible ever came into effect due to governmental complications back then," Baroud explained in an interview with Al Jadeed.  

He later added that each municipality is responsible for choosing its own uniform and that the dress code is relative to the area in which it's being implemented. 

Brummana is known for being a summer destination for tourists and locals, and mini shorts aren't a foreign piece of clothes for its residents...

This daring move by Brummana's municipality has drawn controversy by the Lebanese social media community. 

While many criticized the municipality for trying to attract more tourists by using young women in shorts, others saw the sexist difference in the uniform compared to their male counterparts. 

Here's what people had to say:

"It's unacceptable and inappropriate to use these young women for merely touristic reasons. Where is the official dress code?" 

"It's a very nice idea but you have to see how openminded our society is to it. These girls are going to be catcalled a 1,000 time because of a couple of ignorant men." 

"Are these girls going to enforce traffic regulations or cause traffic? I hope they know how many times they're going to be catcalled a day." 

"Brummana's mayor is giving excuses that shorts are normal in a Mediterranean country! Here's a photo of policewomen in Nice, France... couldn't get more Mediterranean than this. Besides, why are Burmmana's policemen wearing long uniforms and policewomen mini shorts if you weren't objectifying these girls?"

"This decision is within reason. Bravo to Brummana's mayor."

Sexism is alive and well in Lebanon, making different appearances from restaurant ads to interviews with celebrities.

In 2017, a Lebanese restaurant apologized for posting a sexist ad of two burgers positioned side by side to resemble a pair of breasts, offering another free burger with every order. 

In 2012, Lebanese actress and ex-Miss Lebanon, Nadine Nassib Njeim, argued about being against premarital sex for women while admitting the rules are different for men. 

An even more popular Lebanese celebrity, Najwa Karam, also made sexist comments in 2016. Karam told interviewer Qusai Kheder that women’s rights are getting "out of control" and are threatening "the masculinity of the man."