In 2018, Lebanon organized much-awaited parliamentary elections following several years of prorogations amidst political and humanitarian turmoil. An unprecedented number of Lebanese women (86) presented their candidacy to win a seat at the Chamber of Deputies, thus embodying a rising societal demand for a fairer gender representation. Only six of them were elected on the 6th of May. Despite the utter disappointment felt by many women in Lebanon, this last electoral campaign proved an instrumental political exercise for the assertion of women’s voices in Lebanese politics. Therefore, I will argue that the intersection of unequal gender practices (and social norms) and the political domination of established sectarian parties decisively hindered the electoral attractiveness of women. Nonetheless, Lebanese women managed to enhance and ground their political standing. This paper recollects the campaign interviews, field notes and observations performed in spring 2018 with six women from different sects, districts, parties and social backgrounds who competed for the deputation. In conjunction with academics, civil society activists and politicians’ perspectives on the feminization of Lebanese politics I will portray the strategies and messages defended by these political newcomers. This qualitative research is extracted from seven months of fieldwork in 2018 and relies on 117 semi-structured elite-interviews performed across Lebanon.