UfM MEMBER STATES ANNOUNCE A REGIONAL INTERGOVRENMENTAL MONITOR FOR WOMEN RIIGHT

USPA NEWS - UfM Member States will adopt a regional intergovernmental mechanism to monitor the progress made on women´s rights, evaluate gender gaps and provide recommendations to policymakers. UfM projects and initiatives specifically addressing women´s empowerment and gender equality benefit women in 20 Euro-Mediterranean countries. Within the UfM region, gender parity is estimated at 76.7% in Western Europe and at 61.2% in the Middle East and North Africa, which indicates there is still a long way to go.

The Union for the Mediterranean embraces the celebration of the International Women´s Day with the implementation of projects and initiatives in the framework of its regional agenda for women´s empowerment. In a year that marks the 25th Anniversary of the Barcelona Process, which laid the foundations for the creation of the UfM, its Member States are determined to monitor and assess the progress made in advancing gender equality in the region and update their related strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In line with the 2017 UfM Ministerial Declaration on strengthening the role of women in society, and following a 3-year regional process involving governments and gender experts, the UfM will adopt this month a regional intergovernmental follow-up mechanism on gender balance. This entails concrete indicators that will allow to monitor the progress made on women´s rights and to work collectively to accelerate women´s full participation in the region. Source: UfM