The UfM Secretary General signed the Memorandum of Understanding “No Women No Panel”, an initiative by the European Commission and RAI

Tuesday 18 January 2022. The Commissioner General for Italy, Paolo Glisent, and the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel, announce the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding for the European Commission’s “No Women No Panel” campaign, taken up a year ago by Rai Radio1 . The Union for the Mediterranean announced its participation in March 2021 in the campaign seeking to improve gender representation and equality in the public debates in the Euro-Mediterranean Region.

The UfM Secretary General highlighted: “The UfM is very proud to formally support and sign the MoU for the initiative No Women No panel, promoted by RAI, and aiming at improving gender representation and equality in public debates. This initiative foresees an active involvement from our part in promoting a balanced and plural participation of women and men in communication events, ensuring both genders are represented as equally as possible in every panel organised.”

Institutions and organisations from all over the Mediterranean Region have joined the initiative, including the Italy’s Head of State. This resulted in the Memorandum of Understanding, which commits the UfM and other signatory bodies to including female and male participants on panels as equally as possible.

In the presence of the Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family Elena Bonetti, Rai President Marinella Soldi signed the Memorandum, also with representatives from the institutions involved in drafting the document: the President of the National Economic and Labour Council Tiziano Treu; the Head of the EU Commission Representation in Italy Antonio Parenti; the Vice President of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, Michele Emiliano, the President of the Union of Italian Provinces Michele De Pascale, and the Vice President of National Association of Italian Municipalities, Maria Terranova; Sveva Avveduto representing the National Research Council; the Rector of the Sapienza University in Rome Antonella Polimeni, representing the Conference of Italian University Rectors and the President of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei Roberto Antonelli.

The UfM has always put gender equality and women’s empowerment at the heart of its agenda. Last year, the UfM has launched the first exercise of its Intergovernmental Monitoring Mechanism on Gender Equality, which will gather data and monitor progress on a unique set of 20 indicators in 4 priority areas, with the aim of informing policy recommendations regarding women’s equal participation and representation.