.According to UN Women (2019), Lebanese women of all sects, ages and classes participated almost at parity with men in the so-called October 2019 “revolution.” They led political organizing, planned marches, helped run roadblocks, headed strategy sessions, gave socio-political lectures, and provided free legal advice, among other actions. They also held more traditional roles, cooking for protesters, helping with childcare and providing winterization needs. They used their femininity to protect male protestors often acting as buffers between men and the riot police. This presentation examines the role of women in the 2019 revolution, especially in the Sunni majority conservative northern city of Tripoli-- often presented as the bastion of Sunni Islam in Lebanon. Tripoli is Lebanon’s second largest city and one of the poorest cities on the Mediterranean. It was portrayed in the press as the “bride of the uprising”, joyously breaking with its stereotypical image as a conservative city riddled with poverty and sectarian strife. This highlighted its central role in the Lebanese revolution and the important role of peripheral cities in the Arab uprisings. Over 100,000 people participated daily in the first months of the uprising in Tripoli’s main plaza Sahat al-Nour-- at least half of whom were women. Female occupation of public space (especially at night) was surprising and disruptive because of the traditional mores of the city. This work is based on 15 semi-structured interviews conducted online with middle-class women in the 40s and 50s who had participated in the revolution. These women are part of the “war generation,” (Mannheim 1952) and had therefore been so far reluctant to get involved in formal and/or street politics. This presentation will answer the following questions: What motivated their participation in the 2019 revolution? What form did this participation take? How often did they go to the streets? What were their demands, and what did they hope to accomplish? How do they feel about their participation after the failure of the revolution? This presentation argues that these women’s participation was not motivated by feminist concerns, but by maternal fears for the future of their children.