UfM Member States endorse the first of its kind region-wide mechanism to monitor the progress on gender equality
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Member States endorsed a regional intergovernmental mechanism that will provide data for scientific–based policies and support the implementation of gender-related Sustainable Development Goals to ultimately tap into the full potential of women in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Barcelona, 30 July 2020. The UfM Member States endorsed an intergovernmental set of indicators as part of a UfM Ministerial follow-up mechanism that will allow to monitor the progress made on gender equality in the Euro-Mediterranean region. This mechanism has been developed as a follow-up to the UfM Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, adopted in 2017 in Cairo.
Following consultations with the Member States, the UfM Secretariat had proposed and designed a set of 20 gender indicators within the following 4 priority areas, in addition to a proposal of tools that will be used in monitoring and reporting: “women’s access to leadership and decision-making”; “women’s economic participation”; “combating violence against women and girls”; and” combating gender-based stereotypes”. The endorsement by the UfM countries marks the next stage in the agreed Ministerial follow-up mechanism, which will allow to gather relevant data, monitor progress, evaluate the gender gap and provide recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders in order to improve the impact of the Declaration and its Action Plan.
The adopted version of the follow-up mechanism and indicators, including the monitoring tools, will be presented and discussed at the UfM Regional Dialogue Meeting on Women’s Empowerment, set to take place in November 2020 in the framework of the 2020 edition of the UfM High-Level Conference “Accelerating Gender Equality in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic”. The meeting will also provide the opportunity to launch the preparation of the first monitoring and reporting exercise on the implementation of six selected priority indicators by the UfM countries.
The development of a regional framework of gender data and statistics to inform the monitoring of the validated indicators will be equally a key focus of the meeting. Pending on the progress made on the reporting exercise that shall be compiled, policy recommendations will be drafted based on the outcomes and findings of the second UfM Regional Progress report on Gender Equality.
Nasser Kamel, UfM Secretary General said: “We must build new inclusive societies that ensure young girls and women can fulfil their potential as agents of change and contributors to the region’s socio-economic development. This follow-up mechanism will offer an effective means to monitor the progress made on women’s rights and to work collectively to accelerate women’s full participation in the region”.
Political framework
In the 4th Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, held on 27 November 2017 in Cairo, UfM Member States adopted a strong Ministerial Declaration based on the UfM Regional Dialogue recommendations. The Declaration constitutes an ambitious roadmap towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
During the UfM Regional Dialogue meeting on Women’s Empowerment held in Lisbon on 9 October 2018, the UfM Secretariat was mandated to propose, for validation by countries, a set of indicators within 4 priority areas, in addition to a proposal of tools that will be used in monitoring and reporting. These indicators were presented to the Member States and discussed during the UfM Regional Dialogue meeting that took place in Barcelona in July 2019. They have been endorsed on 30 July 2020.
More information
UfM High-Level Conference “Accelerating Gender Equality in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic”
