North Africa and Middle East

The women of the Middle East are offering a huge contribution to the ongoing fight to regain freedom and human rights, yet the mainstream media usually focuses only on negatives and violations.

In this series I will share facts, figures, and real life stories of historic women and of real, everyday women like you and me. Hopefully this will help us draw inspiration to change our world, one step at a time, each in their respective environment.

As the world continues to watch the wave of uprisings across Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) nations, AWID and other women’s rights organizations around the world, together with our partners in the region, strategize on how to best hold the line to ensure that women’s rights are not jeopardised, while maintaining meaningful spaces for women’s rights activists to actively participate in the transition processes.

Women's political representation is vital to securing greater gender equality, feminists and others argue. Africa has made great strides in electing more women to its parliaments.

Four African countries are among the top ten countries with the highest numbers of women in parliament. But even in these countries, gender inequality persists. Many of Africa's women are still constrained by sexist laws and cultural beliefs that infringe their rights.

The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular), announced Canada's contribution to two projects that will encourage the participation of women in the political process in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.