www.enpi-info.euENPI INFO CENTRE - GENDER EQUALITY PRESS PACK: BACKGROUND NOTE

Strengthening the role of women

Equality between men and women is a fundamental right of the Charter of Human Rights, but also a fundamental value of the EU’s Founding Treaties and the Lisbon Treaty.

The promotion and protection of women’s rights figures highly in EU external policy. In line with this commitment, the Foreign Affairs Council in June 2010 adopted the EU Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development for the

period 2010-2015, underlining that: “The EU reiterates its strong commitment to gender equality as a human right, a question of social justice and a core value of the EU development policy.”

Strengthening the role of women in society is one of the key issues addressed by the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, with a pledge to take measures to achieve gender equality, preventing all forms of discrimination and ensuring the protection of the rights of women.

In the last years, a concerted effort has been underway towards this end, under lined by the Conclusions adopted by Min isters of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) at the second Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society held in Mar-rakech on 11-12 No vember 2009.

Following on from the first Euro-Med Min isterial Conference on ‘Strengthening the Role of Women in Society’ in Istanbul in 2006, Minis-ters in Marrakech spelled out the cornerstone of the policy, underlining the need for “actions at national, sub-regional and regional levels, targeted towards improv ing women’s status, strengthening the role of women in political, civil, social, economic and cultural life, and combating

Neighbourhood cooperation to achieve gender equality

BACKGROUND NOTE March 2011

Children’s visions of gender equality: winning entries from Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Ukraine from the 2010 and 2009 editions of EuropeAid’s Gender Equality drawing competition

A regional approach

“Gender equality is essential for growth and poverty reduction, and it is key to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. How-ever, gender inequalities are still entrenched in many cultural, social and political systems. In the developing world, women suffer disproportionately from poverty and its related ills, such as malnutrition, poor health and illiteracy.”

EuropeAid Development and Cooperation website

The promotion and protection of women’s rights is a key priority in every national Action Plan, and is systematically discussed at bilateral level between the EU and its partner countries. At the same time, there is an important regional component to

Euro-Mediterranean cooperation on gender equality. The European Commission’s Regional Strategy Paper (2007-2013) and Regional Indicative Programme (2007-2010) for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership underlines the importance of the regional approach in the promotion of gender equality, saying, “regional support networks among the Mediterranean partner countries provide a source of external policy leverage that is not necessarily perceived as pressure from another culture.”

The programme follows policy priorities set out in the Five-year work plan adopted at the 10-year celebratory Barcelona Summit in November 2005. This attested to the commitment of partner coun-tries to increase the participation of women in decision-making in political, social, cultural and economic positions.

Enhancing Equality ProgrammeThe European Commission has, up to now, supported equality and

gender issues mainly by programmes implemented directly with civil society. The current regional programme “Enhancing gender equality between men and women in the EuroMed region” (EGEP), which runs until 2011, introduces a governmental dimension by granting capacity building and training to governmental and para-governmental bodies on gender equality, the fight against violence and the follow-up of the Istanbul process.

The 3-year €4.5 million programme has three main objectives: the full implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the strengthen-ing of strategies on fighting gender-based violence against women, and support to the follow-up of the 2006 Istanbul Ministerial Con-ference.

It seeks to build on the achievements of an earlier project, ‘Role of Women in Economic Life’, which ended in January 2009. That 3-year, €5 million programme, aimed to expand opportunities for women’s economic participation.

In October 2010, EGEP issued a series of reports on women’s rights

and gender equality in eight countries of the Southern Mediterra-nean, which aim to provide actors and stakeholders with a baseline study of the situation in the region. The reports present an overview of ongoing reforms and dynamics in terms of women’s civil and po-litical rights with special emphasis on legal reforms, gender-based violence and political participation.

An ENPI Info Centre feature story, Combating discrimination and violence against women, draws attention to the work of the pro-gramme, while an interview highlights its main priorities.

all forms of dis crimination against women and girls.”UfM Ministers stressed the need for “concrete measures”, outlining specific commitments in the three main ar eas of civil and political

rights, economic rights, and cultural and social rights, and proposing to integrate gender equality as one of the priority project areas of the Union for the Mediterranean.

In cooperation with the Eastern Neighbourhood, the issue of integrating women into social and economic life is covered in the regional Priority Area of people to people activities, while the both regional and national strategy papers all stress that, “gender will be mainstreamed as a cross-cutting issue in all assistance measures.”

Photo: © ENPI Euro-Med Gender Equality Programme (EGEP)

www.enpi-info.euENPI INFO CENTRE - GENDER EQUALITY PRESS PACK: BACKGROUND NOTE

Useful linksEuropeAid Cooperation and Development: Gender webpagehttp://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/gender/index_en.htm European External Action Service – Euromed and Women http://eeas.europa.eu/euromed/women/index_en.htmEuropean External Action Service – Women’s Rights in EU External Policy http://eeas.europa.eu/human_rights/women/index_en.htm EU and Gender Equality webpagehttp://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=418&langId=en Enhancing Equality between Men and Women in the Euromed region fiche http://www.enpi-info.eu/mainmed.php?id=241&id_type=10 Enhancing Equality between Men and Women in the Euromed region project website http://www.euromedgenderequality.org/ ENPI Info Centre – Gender webpage http://www.enpi-info.eu/thememed.php?subject=12 Gender Drawing Competition (EC-2010) http://ec.europa.eu/europe-aid/what/gender/drawing-competition-2010_en.htm ENPI Info Centre – Photos on gender http://www.enpi-info.eu/list_galleries_med.php?subject=12 ENPI Info Centre – gender publications http://www.enpi-info.eu/list_type_med.php?id_type=9&subject=12

DocumentsUfM Second Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society – Conclusions (Nov. 2009) http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/euromed/women/docs/2009_11_conference_en.pdfEEAS Istanbul Conference follow up webpage http://eeas.europa.eu/euromed/women/gender_followup_en.htmEU Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development for the period 2010-2015 http://www.consilium.euro-pa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/genaff/115157.pdfEU Toolkit on Mainstreaming Gender in development cooperation

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sp/gender-toolkit/index.htm Monitoring the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Dis-crimination Against Women (CEDAW)-2007 http://www.enpi-info.eu/mainmed.php?id=45&id_type=9&lang_id=450&subject=12 EuropeAid Feature - Masarat - A journey through Palestinian women’s lives http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/documents/case-studies/pales-tine_gender-equality_masarat_en.pdf ENPI Info Centre feature: Combating discrimination and violence against women http://www.enpi-info.eu/files/features/a105038%20ENPI%20Gen-der%20Descr.%20Lebanon%20Syria%20Palest.v.2%20ENG.pdf ENPI Info Centre feature: Breaking the wall of silencehttp://www.enpi-info.eu/files/features/a103024%20ENPI%20Pales-tinian%20Audiovisual%20(en).v.2.pdf Culture and Communication, Key Factors for Changing Mentalities & Societies - Study by the Anna Lindh Foundation for the 2006 Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on ‘Equality of Opportuni-ties’ http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/euromed/women/docs/alf_0406_en.pdfWomen as Full Participants in the Euro-Mediterranean Community of Democratic States - EuroMeSCo Report - April 2006 http://www.euromesco.net/images/02.pdfWomen and Economic Development in the Mediterranean - Institut de la Méditerranée, France http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/euromed/women/docs/women_0406_en.pdfEuromed Women’s Conference Barcelona + 10 (Nov. 2005)http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/euromed/women/docs/ar-ticle_en.pdf

Press contactsDG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities - Press offi-cers http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/about/contact_us/ec_spokespersons/employ_en.htm

www.enpi-info.euENPI INFO CENTRE - GENDER EQUALITY PRESS PACK: USEFUL LINKS

Gender equality: find out moreFeatures and interviews: click on the image to download the PDF

This press pack (2011) was prepared by the ENPI Info Centre (www.enpi-info.eu), an EU-funded Regional Information and Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. It does not represent the official view of the EC or the EU institutions.

International Women’s Day 2011: some events in partner countries8 March 2011 is the hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day, marked for the first time in 1911. Across the EU’s Neighbourhood partner countries, activities will be held to highlight EU involvement in promoting women’s rights. Some of the events are listed below:

ISRAElInternational Women’s Day activities in the framework of EU-supported projects under the programme: “Investing in People - Gender Equality”Maan/WAC women’s march for fair employment. In the framework of the EU supported project Job Opportunities for Arab Women in agri-culture, a march of Arab and Jewish women protesting for fair employment will set out from Rothschild Boulevard. in Tel Aviv, and end with a big rally in the Meir Park where various artists will perform. When: 8 March, 16:00; Where: Rothschild Blvd. Tel AvivThe UNICO students’ organization, a partner in the Equality for Women in Israel: Adopting a Holistic Approach project, will carry out the fol-lowing activities on 8 March “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” Panel- A panel of leading women in various fields will discuss the “glass ceiling” from different perspectives: busi-ness, politics, media and academia. The panel will be held at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya at 14:30.“Female beauty as a key to success”- The event will examine the relationship between the “glass ceiling” and the ideal of beauty. The film “killing me softly” will be screened followed by a discussion about female representation in advertisements. At Tel – Hai College, Upper Galilee 18:00.“Made in Dagenham”- Screening of the movie “Made in Dagenham”, Based on the true story about a group of women who decided to go on strike in a local Ford factory in England due to poor working conditions. At Ben Gurion University, Beersheva 20:30.“Between Feminism and Chauvinism”- An all day activity at Haifa University will examine the terms that define the “edges” of Gender Discourse: Feminism and Chauvinism. The discussion will integrate students and their opinions in order to find new concepts and ideas regarding old and new terms in Gender Discourse. Haifa University, 10:00-16:00

JORDANAat Network & AlBalad Theatre – International Women’s Day Festival, co-funded by the EUPerformances, 8pm: 20-22 March: AWT II: In the lost & Found, play by Lana Nasser; 23 March: Ana Hurra, from Palestine, by Valentina Abu Oqsa. Workshops, 5-8pm: March 8-12: “Language of Gesture”, Algerian artist Taous Khazem; March 21-23: “Unfolding Stories”, Dr. Fadi Skeiker, Syria/Jordan Community Outreach: 12 March: Special event for young women from Gaza Camp-Jarash & Al-Ghore. Films, 8pm: March 8 The Kingdom of Women, March 9 The Absence of Mr and Mrs B, March 10 Kul Yome Eid, March 22-23: Audio Video Art Project, by Muna al Mufti Steve Al-Alai. Where: All events are held at AlBalad Theatre, Jabal Amman

lEBANONOn the Occasion of International Women’s Day, the Lebanese NGO KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation is launching its Regional Lobbying and Media Campaign on Lifting the Reservations on Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) within the framework of the EU-funded project “CEDAW from Theory to Practice”. The event will include testimonies from victims of domestic violence and will be addressed by EU Head of Delegation Angelina Eichhorst.Financed through the Investing in People programme, the project aims at coordinating ef-forts in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria to promote implementation of CEDAW and push governments towards lifting their reservations on the convention.When: 7 March, 3pm; Where: Hotel Crowne Plaza, Hamra, Beirut

OCCUPIED PAlEStINIAN tERRItORyThree projects related to women and human rights will be organising events on International Women’s Day. In Gaza, the National Centre for Community and Rehabilitation is organising an event in honour of disabled women under the project Combating discrimination and Human Rights Abuse of marginalized children and women In East Jerusalem, the ‘Al Maqdese for Society Development’ organization will honour distinguished women (the EU funds one of their projects about ‘ending exploitation in East Jerusalem’ under the Human Rights programme) The Psycho Social Counseling Center For Women (under one of the EU’s Partnership for Peace programmes: Women can do change) will be presenting the results of a needs assessment for women in the West Bank on a workshop on 15 March.

UkRAINEInternational Women’s Day – History in PhotosA photo exhibition presented by the EU Delegation in Ukraine together with the United Nations in Ukraine, with the support of the State Services for Youth and Sports. The exhibition illustrates how the image of women and their role in society have altered during the last hundred years.When: 3-13 March; Where: National Centre for Business and Cultural Cooperation “Ukrainskiy Dim (Ukrainian House)”, the Great Exhibition Hall. 2, Khreshchatyk Str., Kyiv, 01601