BEIJING+10: ARAB WOMEN AT A GLANCE

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BEIJING10ARAB WOMEN AT A GLANCE
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Contents

• ESCWA Centre for Women (ECW)
• Status of Arab women trends and indicators,
  1990-2005
• 1- Health
• 2- Education
• 3- Employment
• 4- Political participation
• 5- National machineries for women
• CEDAW and Arab countries
• Women in Iraq

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ESCWA Centre for Women(ECW)
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Establishment of ESCWA Centre for Women
(ECW)

• The Committee on Women was established as one of
  the subsidiary bodies of the Economic and Social
  Commission for Western Asia (SCWA) pursuant to
  ESCWA resolution 240(XXII) of 17 April 2003, in
  which the Commission requested the Executive
  Secretary to establish a womens centre within
  the secretariat with the responsibility for
  acting as the secretariat of the Commission on
  Women. The Executive Secretary duly established
  the Centre for Women in October 2003.

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MISSION STATEMENT

• Gender Mainstreaming for Gender Equality
• Improvement of Status of Arab Women and their
  Empowerment
• Economically, Socially and Politically

Encouraging greater participation in
decision-making
Promoting partnership in the Arab family
Alleviating poverty
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WHY? Objectives

• To improve the status of Arab women
• To empower Arab women economically, socially and
  politically
• To underscore partnership in the Arab family, and
  family-related gender roles and values
• To raise gender awareness
• To coordinate a common position among Arab
  countries on women and gender issues for gender
  equity and equality

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WHAT?Challenges

• Ensuring equal access by women to education and
  health services
• Increasing the participation of women in economic
  activities and the labour force
• Reducing gender imbalances particularly of
  poverty and illiteracy
• Combating violence against women and gender-based
  violence
• Eliminating all forms of discrimination against
  women
• Increasing the participation of women in
  decision-making and power-sharing
• Bridging the gap between the de jure and de facto
  gender-related laws and legislation

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HOW?Means

• Organize national and regional meetings in
  preparation for and follow-up to the Beijing
  Platform for Action and the Arab Plan of Action
  for the Advancement of Women
• Undertake pioneering and thematic research
• Monitor developments in the situation of women
  and disseminate information
• Provide technical assistance for institutional
  and capacity-building of national machineries for
  women and NGOs
• Formulate operational projects for empowerment of
  women
• Provide advisory services in gender mainstreaming
• Launch media campaigns to raise gender awareness
• Follow-up on accession to the Convention on the
  Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
  Against Women (CEDAW)
• Act as a catalyst for gender mainstreaming in
  plans, policies and programmes
• Serve as a forum and regional coordinator among
  Arab States for women and gender issues

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RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

• I. Economic dimension
• Poverty
• Female-headed households in selected
  conflict-stricken ESCWA areas
• Women and poverty in the ESCWA region issues and
  concerns
• Feasibility and operationalization of microcredit
  finance facilities targeting poor women in urban
  and rural areas in selected Arab countries
• Globalization, Poverty and Gender Based Division
  of Labour in Selected Arab Countries
• The Role of Women in Agriculture and Food
  Processing The Syrian Arab Republic

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• II. Social dimension
• Family
• Partnership in the Arab family gender roles
• Annotated bibliography on the Arab family
• The Impact of Occupation, War and Armed Conflict
  on the Situation of the Family (Case studies of
  Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, and
  Iraq)
• The Legal Frameworks and National Systems for the
  Protection of the Family
• The Impact of Social Policies on the Family
• Forward-Looking Strategy and the Empowerment of
  the Arab Family

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• NGOs
• Role of NGOs in the integrated follow-up to
  global conferences assessment and vision
• Role of NGOs in the integrated follow-up to
  global conferences
• Role of NGOs in implementation of the Beijing
  Platform for Action critical assessment
• Compendium of ESCWA studies on role of NGOs in
  follow-up to global conferences Code of conduct
  for NGOs
• III. Political dimension
• Gender, citizenship and the role of NGOs in
  Palestine
• Gender, citizenship and the role of NGOs in
  Lebanon
• Gender, citizenship and the role of NGOs in Yemen
• Gender, citizenship and the roles of NGOs in the
  Gulf Cooperation Countries