New Seminar for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in the Middle East

As part of the AECID’s Masar Program, Casa Árabe hosted several sessions of the third seminar devoted to this topic from December 11 to 15.

As part of the cooperation between the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Spanish International Development Cooperation Agency (AECID) for the Masar Program gender strategy, which supports democratic governance in North Africa and the Middle East, Casa Árabe hosted some of the work days during the Specialized Seminar on the Family and Shari’a, which took place from December 11 to 15, 2017.

The seminar brought together 16 members of parliament, judges, lawyers and activists from eight Arab countries: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, all members of the regional network known as the Arab Women’s Legal Network (AWLN). Also taking part in the seminar were Spanish experts from Spain’s General Council of the Legal Branch of Power, the Spanish Constitutional Court, the Universidad Complutense and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

During the sessions, they analyzed the status of Family Law in Spain and in eight Arab countries where significant advancements have been achieved in recent years. Proof of this includes the modifications to the family codes and in the application of the Shari’a which have been enacted in several countries in recent years, with the goal of acknowledging women’s rights in terms of marriage, divorce, inheritance and the possibility of having nationality granted to women’s sons and daughters.

With the advice of the aforementioned experts, the Seminar purposes included identifying, , challenges and guidelines for change in the advancement of gender equality in each of the countries, so as to contribute to orienting future AECID work proposals in the region. Throughout the sessions, proposals were gathered on both regulations and on the topic of women’s autonomy, and social and cultural change.