A U.N. report issued in Amman, Jordan on July 18, calls on Arab governments to introduce legislative reforms to ensure women’s rights, reports the Jordanian news agency Petra.
Queen Rania, President of the Arab Women’s Summit, received a copy of the “Progress of Arab Women 2004” report.
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(Petra)
The report was prepared by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) – the Arab States Regional Office. The key objective of the report is to serve as a tool for identifying unfulfilled promises and for revisiting current strategies and programs of actions for protecting women’s security in Arab states.
The report provides an insight into the world of Arab women and the progress achieved throughout the years.
Three levels of action in the region towards women’s empowerment are investigated in the report: the policy level where international commitments are being made; the operational plans and actions at the national level; and the achievements and challenges in terms of the everyday lives of women.
Regional Director of UNIFEM Arab States Regional Office Heifa Abu Ghazalah said that, “Arab women have witnessed, over the past decade, important political, economic, and social transformations.”
Nevertheless, the report states that Arab women continue to suffer social inequality and that many of them have “no opportunity for employment or social security.”
The report also adds that women remain under-represented in the political arena, despite their progress in political participation.