Maghreb nations succeeding in improving rights of women and children

2007-03-18

A recent report by UNICEF outlines the region's progress in strengthening the rights of women and children. Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria were singled out for their unique commitment to empowering women.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis -- 18/03/07

[Jamel Arfaoui] Representatives of UNICEF present their report to local media.

A recent UNICEF report revealed the progress three Maghreb nations -- Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria -- have made in strengthening women's and children's rights. "With the exception of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, the rest of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa do not have a sense of responsibility towards empowering women politically," Moncef Moalla, an official at the UNICEF office in Tunisia said.

UNICEF's annual report, which was distributed recently at the Centre for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR), states that Tunisia ranks first in women's representation in Parliament, at 23%, followed by Morocco (11%) and Algeria (6%).

Jean Michel Delmot, director of the UNICEF office in Tunisia, affirmed that this year was the organisation's first in dealing with gender equality "in order to offer evidence that one of the strongest restrictions impeding realisation of children's rights and realisation of the millennium development goals on the international level is the discrimination women face".

Under the title Women and Children: The Double Dividend of Gender Equality, this year's UNICEF report renewed its assertion that, compared with other developing regions, the Middle East and North Africa region is behind in ensuring health services for mothers. Each year, 21,000 women in the region die as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Moreover, a quarter of the region's nations saw a maternal mortality rate of more than 200 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000, the last year for which comprehensive data is available. The international standards aim for no more than five deaths per 100,000 live births.

As for women's personal rights and freedoms in the Middle East and North Africa, the report relied on a thorough investigation UNICEF commissioned from US organisation Freedom House in 2003. Freedom House carried out a massive, far-reaching investigation over 20 months, relying on a team of 40 specialised researchers, analysts and experts. The investigation concluded with the following findings: While some governments in the Middle East and North Africa region made significant progress towards empowering women, "none of the countries evaluated can claim to meet internationally recognized standards for women's rights".

According to Freedom House's 1-to-5 rating scale, Tunisia scored highest in the region in the area of women's personal rights and freedoms, with a rating of 3.6. It was followed by Morocco (3.2), Algeria (3) and Libya (2.3). Saudi Arabia ranked last with a rating of 1.2.

The report also revealed that the earnings gap between women and men is substantial in the Middle East and North Africa region. "Women in some nations of the Middle East and North Africa earn less than 40% of men's income, with devastating consequences for women and their families."

In 2005, a World Bank study noted that if women's earnings were commensurate with their level of education, "their earnings would increase by 45% in the private sector and 13% in the public sector".

Women in Morocco ranked first in the region, with earnings at 40% those of men. This percentage drops to 37% in Tunisia and 31% in Algeria.

The UNICEF report praises Morocco for its efforts in creating a "gender-responsive" national budget for 2006, which was the product of four years of co-operation between the Moroccan government and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the European Commission and the Belgian government. The budget integrates the plans of the ministries of finance, education, health, agriculture and rural development on national and local levels.