The Diplomat
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) will hold from tomorrow until Thursday a conference to strengthen the role of women in the face of the current regional crises in the Mediterranean area.
The Union for the Mediterranean is organizing the sixth regional conference Women for the Mediterranean on October 26 and 27 in Madrid. This year’s edition will provide an opportunity to discuss the gender perspective in the face of recent global and regional crises and will allow to examine the results of the first UfM Gender Equality Report, published in March 2022.
The meeting will bring together Spain’s Minister of Equality, Irene Montero; EU Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli; and UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, and will be preceded, on October 26, by the fifth Ministerial Meeting on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, which will bring together the ministers of the 42 UfM member states responsible for gender equality.
Following the adoption of a ministerial declaration, the conference sessions will contribute to the development of a roadmap for implementing country mandates in the coming years. “These meetings are taking place at a crucial time, as women are suffering disproportionately from the effects of recent regional crises in health, energy, food and the environment,” the Barcelona-based organization said.
Conference participants – ministers, policymakers, women’s empowerment experts and young women entrepreneurs from across the region – will discuss how to foster women’s entrepreneurship and leadership in the private and public sectors and how to make the labor market more inclusive. They will also analyze the multidimensional impacts of crises on women, especially gender-based violence.
In addition, the sessions will examine the role of women in climate and environmental action and access to finance. Finally, the role of the media in changing stereotypes and social barriers will be discussed. The conference will also feature human interest and success stories from Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation.
As highlighted in the UfM Report on Gender Equality 2022, “women are active drivers of economic and human growth”. However, the economic and social consequences of the pandemic and geopolitical conflicts have slowed progress and worsened the situation for women and girls around the world, and especially in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
