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Gender and Women Issues

The advancement of women’s rights is a matter of urgency in the Arab region and essential for meaningful development. Although significant progress towards women’s empowerment has been made in most Arab countries, women in the region continue to face great challenges and uncertainty, particularly in situations of conflict, economic difficulties and political instability. Gender-based discrimination remains widespread and their access to resources, opportunities and decision-making continues to be limited.

The ESCWA Centre for Women (ECW) carries out research on gender equality in the region and evaluates the impact of national policies, legislation and programmes on gender issues. Priority issues for the centre include: gender-based violence, women’s economic participation and access to resources, female political participation, women and the knowledge society, and women, peace and security.

The ECW strives to find suitable solutions to the problem of gender discrimination, organizes capacity-building throughout the region and advises member States on gender issues and on reporting to human rights bodies on their compliance with international conventions on the rights of women.