A nti-government protests that have swept across Lebanon over recent weeks have been notable for their lack of leaders, but they have not been without leadership.

On the front of marches and discussion groups, sit-ins and roadblocks, women have been a key driving force behind the movement. In a political system where women are chronically underrepresented, they are making themselves heard in the streets.

“Women have been such an important part of this revolution,” says Mariana Wehbe, a public relations consultant, who has been protesting every day. “We have been on the front lines, we have been empowering each other and we have kept the peace.”

On Wednesday evening, Wehbe organised a women’s candlelit vigil in the city’s main square, attended by thousands. It was a poignant moment, but the role of women in these protests has been more than symbolic; it has dramatically altered their character and direction.

One of the most enduring images of the protests was taken on the first night, during a scuffle between a cabinet minister’s bodyguards and protesters. As one of the guards brandished a gun, a woman named Malak Alaywe delivered a swift kick to his groin.

Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Show all 16 1 /16 Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Protestors burn buildings in downtown Beirut The protests in Lebanon began as a spontaneous burst of anger over new taxes. On October 17, mostly young men came on to the streets in the capital Beirut and across the country. They clashed with police and lit fires. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests A large fire is constructed near Lebanon's parliament building The new taxes included a levy on the messaging service WhatsApp. In a country where people were already struggling, it was the final nail in the coffin. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Protesters fight running battles with police Protesters continued to clash with police into the second night. Downtown Beirut became a battleground as volleys of tear gas rained down on demonstrators. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests The joker makes an appearance By the third day, the mood changed. The violence of the first two nights ebbed and numbers swelled. People came out by their thousands across the country. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Protesters occupy an abandoned theatre in downtown Beirut The protesters took control of the streets. They also reclaimed public space that had been off limits to them for years. This image was taken from a grand theatre in downtown Beirut that had been shuttered since the civil war. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Protesters look down from an abandoned building Here, two protesters look towards downtown from the top of a building nicknamed "the egg" for its dome-like structure. It was part of a complex that was under construction when war broke out in 1975, and it has remained empty and off-limits ever since. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests A protester faces off with a police officer Women have played a key role in these protests. They have been on the frontline of demonstrations and sit-ins — which had a marked effect reducing violence. For the first week, police didn't know how to deal with them. In this picture, a woman police officer tries to negotiate with a protester to remove a road block. She was part of a team of women police officers sent out on this day. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests A group of women resists police attempts to remove their sit-in This image was taken during a police attempt to remove people from blocking a road. Again, the presence of woman at the front of the sit-in led to the police abandoning the attempt. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests A woman chants at a roadblock protest on Beirut's ring road Protesters said the road blocks were vital in keeping up pressure on the government. Without them, they would be ignored. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests A living room is set up on one of Beirut's busiest roads Some of the roadblocks were more relaxed than others. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Tens of thousands pack Tripoli's Nour Square The protests may have started in Beirut, but they have sprung up around the country. This photograph was taken in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city. Protests there have outsized those in the capital Beirut. The city has been called the "bride of the revolution." Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests The crowd looks up as a singer performs for protesters in Tripoli's Nour Square The scenes in Tripoli are even more remarkable given its recent history. For years it has been plagued by extremism and violence. These mass displays of unity in the city's main square every night have done a lot to counter other Lebanese citizens' perception of Tripoli. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Young men take photographs of protests in Tripoli's Nour Square Tripoli is also one of Lebanon's poorest cities. The protests here have been fuelled by desperation of poor people struggling to get by. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Police protect protesters from Hezbollah supporters But the protests have not been without their opponents. As demonstrations entered their second week, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement began to show anger at protesters for their demand that all Lebanon's political leaders stand down. In this image, police stand between protesters and a group of Hezbollah supporters in downtown Beirut. Clashes broke out when they left. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests A group of Hezbollah and Amal supporters attacks peaceful protesters in Beirut The worst violence of the protests came towards the end of the second week. Several hundred supporters of Hezbollah and its political ally Amal attacked protesters who were blocking the main ring road in Beirut. Afterwards, they stormed into downtown and destroyed a protest encampment. Richard Hall / The Independent Lebanon rocked by nationwide protests Protesters pile tent poles in downtown Beirut after they were destroyed by Hezbollah and Amal supporters But the protesters came back to the main square, made a mountain from the poles of destroyed tents and placed a flag in it. The same day, Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri resigned, given protesters their first major victory. Richard Hall / The Independent

The image of a woman lashing out at this representation of the country’s corrupt and patriarchal political class instantly became a meme, stylised in an illustration, and appeared to quickly become a major catalyst in bringing more people out on to the streets.

But the biggest impact women have had on the protests is making them more peaceful.

The first two nights of demonstrations were marked by violent clashes between police and protesters that continued deep into the night. But on the third evening, a group of women decided to form a human shield to separate the two sides.

“The purpose was for women to take control of how the protests were evolving,” says Dayna Ash, an activist who was among those who stood in the way.

“They wanted a peaceful protest. So they took to the front lines to stop the violence,” she says.

They called it the women’s front line. The clashes stopped immediately, and the protests continued to swell over the coming days.

The reduction in violence that followed this direct action meant that more people felt comfortable enough to join the protests, which have been the largest in more than a decade.

“I’ve had women come up to me who thought they could never speak up. We have built this tribe of protection for them to share their ideas and talk,” says Wehbe.

A group of women resist police attempts to clear a sit-in that is blocking a road through Beirut during anti-government demonstrations (Richard Hall/The Independent) (Richard Hall / The Independent)

A week later, when police began forcefully removing roadblocks set up by protesters around Beirut, the same thing happened again. Groups of women took to placing themselves in the front line, and the police backed off.

The demonstrations have been different to anything that has come before in Lebanon, in more ways than one. Rather than targeting the government or any one political leader, protesters called out the country’s corrupt political class in its entirety.

This energy has always been there, we just found a way to unleash it and show who we really are Mariana Wehbe, protester

They were sparked by a raft of new taxes, but the roots of the movement go much deeper. The combination of an acute economic crisis and decades of rampant corruption has pushed the country to the edge.

Protesters have repeatedly characterised their demands as nothing more than a fulfilment of their basic rights as citizens. But for women in Lebanon, those rights are fewer still.

Despite some recent reforms, the country’s legal system is rife with laws that discriminate against women. Lebanese mothers cannot pass their citizenship on to their children. Issues such as divorce, property rights and child custody are decided by religious law, which is heavily discriminatory against women. Lebanese law also does not specifically criminalise marital rape and the country has one of the lowest maternity leave allowances in the world.

Lebanon has only six women lawmakers in its 128-seat parliament, and women are underrepresented in key areas of the workforce such as science, technology and engineering.

It is perhaps no surprise then that the country is ranked 140 out of 149 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Gender Gap report, which measures gender parity in the economy, education, health and politics.

Women’s rights in Lebanon has been treated much like every other pressing issue the country faces: piecemeal reforms have papered over the cracks temporarily without making any meaningful change.

Years of these unaddressed grievances have given women even more reason to come out on to the streets.

Thousands of women gather for a candlelit vigil in Martyrs’ Square, Beirut, on Wednesday (Joseph Kiwan)

“I believe women from all ages and backgrounds and classes have come to realise that they have such a large stake in everything that has been going on. They make up half the population and they are twice as oppressed,” says Ash.

Wehbe, who organised the vigil with her friend, Sarah Beydoun, says her 15-year-old daughter has been out protesting with her schoolmates too.

“My daughter will not grow up in the same Lebanon I grew up in. We grew up in fear. There is none of that now. If we have a problem we are going to scream about it. Now we have voices,” she says.