International Women’s Day is a yearly opportunity to celebrate and embrace the social, economic, and political achievements of women, without regard to ethnic, national, or linguistic divisions. It is also a date to call for action and highlight the pressing challenges that women continue to face such as discrimination, violence and abuse or economic exclusion.
To create prosperous economies and ensure sustainable societies, gender equality is a global priority. The current economic system disproportionally affects and excludes women, and female-led businesses continue to lack support and funding. In the Middle East and North Africa, less than 5% of businesses are women-led, around 20 percentage points below the global average.
To achieve gender equality in the economic and financial sector, it is essential to focus on changing the mindset of women entrepreneurs along with that of banks, the private sector, and financial institutions to create a more enabling entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in the region. In this context, the UfM Secretariat is using the 2024 IWD theme Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress to dive deeper into the success stories of some of the Mediterranean women working tirelessly for positive and lasting change.
