Women in the Private Sector in the Middle East and North Africa
Wilton Park has published its report on this gathering, organized in collaboration with Casa Árabe and the Swedish Institute of Alexandria from March 24-27 in Cordoba.
April 25, 2014
The event, which forms part of the annual program of conferences organized by Wilton Park, focused on the cases of Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Iraq and the Occupied Palestinian territories and had the following objectives:
- Identifying obstacles and opportunities for women’s empowerment and economic participation, in the private sector in particular;
- Sharing the lessons learned, presenting examples of good practices amongst businesswomen.
- Analyzing the work of local activists, both religious and secular, to promote greater gender equality in the economy.
- Identifying areas for cooperation between governments, the business sector and civil society, in order to achieve greater inclusiveness and improved practices.
The seminars were organized in the form of exhibitions and debates on the following topics: economic challenges and opportunities for women in the MENA region; patterns of economic exclusion; legal frameworks on gender and restrictions on employment in the private sector; Islam and the role of women in the economy; education and the development of skills in the private sector; entrepreneurs and self-employment; options towards independence and economic security. Likewise, three work groups were created to analyze: access to financing; the use of information and communication technologies, and the cooperation between civil society, the private sector and government.
The sessions were officially opened by Eduardo López Busquets, the General Director of Casa Árabe; Isobelle Jacques, Director of the Wilton Park program, and Birgitta Holst Alani, Co-President of the OECD-MENA Women’s Business Forum and Director of the Swedish Institute of Alexandria. Participating in the conference, in addition to numerous businesswomen, were representatives from international organizations such as the UNDP, ILO, OECD and Arab League, as well as universities and research centers such as the American University in Cairo and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
