The thematic committee “Gender Mainstreaming and women empowerment” has been created in 2018 in the framework of the EBSOMED project with the aim to join the forces to promote gender diversity in the Euro-Mediterranean Region with a special focus on women in board as it’s a growing necessity for companies to thrive and grow in today’s environment.

A lot has been done to empower women and according to the OECD some gaps have been closed. For instance, women in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia are more educated than ever before. Gender gaps in education are almost closed, especially at tertiary level, with women in some countries catching up with men in the male-dominated fields of science, technology and maths. Their academic progress, however, has not translated into equally improved access to economic opportunity. Women are still under-represented in boardrooms across all industries and though there are signs of improvement, a glass ceiling continues to exist. The Thematic committee is addressing this specific challenge of gender mainstreaming.

The OECD is also supporting the Italian Presidency in designing the “G20 Roadmap towards and beyond the Brisbane target” to accelerate efforts. The G20 Alliance for the Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation (EMPOWER) could also unlock the barriers to women’s leadership in the private sector by promoting collaboration between business leaders and governments.

From another perspective, in 2020 the UfM Member States endorsed a regional intergovernmental mechanism that provides 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.

From another side, BUSINESSMED and its member organisations are convinced that the advancement of women in leadership and management is integral to the growth and success of companies. The thematic committee are working on advocating for enhancing female participation in economic decision-making.

In this sense, BUSINESSMED, in the framework of EBSOMED, is organising a webinar on 15 September 2021 in order to:

• Present the 2^nd periodical survey following the empirical results of the study
• Learn more about gender equality policies and role of women in the post-COVID recovery in the UfM countries
• Take part of the debate on women’s participation in public life and Decision-Making positions
• Disseminate good practices favoring gender diversity and measuring gender diversity across industries and Mediterranean countries

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Registration is available via this link.