Mediterranean ministers embrace women's rights

2009-11-18

New projects to promote leadership roles for women will strengthen democracy, according to ministers from Mediterranean countries who met recently in Marrakech.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 18/11/09

[Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images] Ministers tackled the promotion of women's rights in the Mediterranean basin at a meeting in Marrakech.

Countries in the Mediterranean region need to fund and co-ordinate more projects that boost the role of women in society, according to ministers and civil-society delegations from 43 nations that convened on Wednesday (November 11th) in Marrakech.

Delegates at the 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on gender equality and women's rights, all of them from Union for the Mediterranean countries, focused on improving the situation of women in the context of leadership and work.

Besides calling for the increased financing and co-ordination of women's projects, an official statement from the two-day event also praised the progress of women in the Mediterranean region. However, the statement noted that such advances were happening "at different speeds, including on the northern shores of the Mediterranean".

The participants concluded that ensuring more uniform progress requires implementing projects such as the Women's Foundation for the Mediterranean, which will have a branch in Marrakech.

To boost women's role in society, the foundation will host meetings, initiatives, and the exchange of local experiences. The foundation will also finance projects designed to spur local development and encourage greater funding by organisations like the World Bank.

France, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco all expressed support for the creation of the foundation, which according to the statement will "create a space acknowledged both by institutions and actors on the ground".

"The foundation will be a mechanism to set up projects that bolster women's rights," Hala Bseisu Lattouf, Jordan's social development minister, told her counterparts.

Participants also underlined the need to empower young women and women in poverty, and to provide them with tools to protect themselves and strengthen democracy in the process.

Other ministers emphasised the need to work together to overcome the obstacles standing in the way of women's rights.

"Women in the Mediterranean basin still encounter major difficulties when trying to assert their full rights," said Moroccan Minister for Social Development Nouzha Skalli. "These difficulties exist in many fields, from employment issues to decision-making processes."

Skalli also criticised the image of women propagated in the media and the arts, which feeds unfavourable stereotypes and prejudice.

"Now more than ever, it's necessary to get women more involved in leadership," said the secretary general of Egypt's national women's council, Farkhonda Hassan. "It's particularly important for women to protect their rights in this time of economic crisis."

Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities Mara Carfagna struck a similar chord, calling the promotion of women's rights dependent on "access to the decision-making processes in the political and social arenas".

The ministers also called on charities and civil society in general to play their part in boosting women's rights.

"Civil society must play a key role in creating a general strategy for the improvement of women's rights in the region and equate the development of these rights with economic development," said the chair of the Moroccan Platform for the EuroMed civil society network, Abdelmaksoud Rachdi.