Achieve gender
equality and
empower all women
and girls

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A. Introduction

Some progress on SDG 5 is evident in the Arab region, including in amending legislation to support gender equality and the empowerment of women and women’s increased presence in political decision-making. Yet major challenges persist. The region is not on track to achieve this goal. The representation of women in leadership positions is well below global averages. Law enforcement and legal gaps and inconsistencies continue to be concerns. Violence against women occurs largely unabated in private and public spheres, and harmful practices remain a significant problem in some countries. Marked variations exist between urban and rural areas in access to sexual and reproductive health care and contraceptive use, largely hinging on women’s level of education and socioeconomic status. Women still disproportionately bear the responsibility for unpaid care work, a factor in low female labour force participation and gender gaps in economic opportunities and outcomes.

What the data say

Data included in this section are from the ESCWA Arab SDG Monitor, unless otherwise indicated (accessed in December 2023).
A little over one third of women in the Arab region 1 will likely endure intimate partner violence, with the rate significantly increasing in some settings, including conflict-affected areas.2
Women held 18.2 per cent of seats in national parliaments in the region in 2022, close to a fivefold increase from 3.8 per cent in 2000 and a slight decrease from the 2015 level of 18.8 per cent. The share compares to 26.5 per cent globally.
20.4 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 years were married or in a union before age 18 in the Arab region in 2020, slightly higher than the world average, reaching 33.5 per cent in Arab least developed countries.
Women are also underrepresented in local government, where they held 19.5 per cent of seats in 2023 compared to 35.5 per cent globally. Significant regional variation exists, with women constituting 31.7 per cent of elected members in local deliberative bodies in the least developed countries in 2023 compared to 25.5 per cent and 8.0 per cent in the Maghreb and Mashreq subregions, respectively, and 1.3 per cent in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Female genital mutilation is still practised in a number of Arab countries.3 The prevalence for girls and women aged 15 to 49 varies from 99.2 per cent and 90.1 per cent in Somalia and Djibouti, respectively, to 7.4 per cent in Iraq.4 Over the past 20 years, progress has been made in reducing the regional rate of female genital mutilation, from 71.0 per cent in 2001 to 54.3 per cent in 2021 for girls aged 15 to 19 years.5
The proportion of women in managerial positions is especially low. It increased from 9.1 per cent in 2000 to 12.1 in 2011 regionally, only to decrease again to 9.4 in 2013. It stood at a mere 12.4 per cent in 2021, a slight rise from 9.7 per cent in 2015, compared to a world average of 28.2 per cent.
Increasing education levels among women in the region and amendments to labour laws have not effectively translated into greater female economic participation. The female labour force participation rate stood at 19.8 per cent in 2022, less than half the global average of 47.9 per cent. This compares to 70.3 per cent for
men.6 The female unemployment rate stood at 19.9 per cent in 2022, three and a half times higher than the world average of 5.8 per cent.
Advancing gender equality has a catalytic effect on the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. It drives progress on all dimensions, including poverty and hunger eradication; greater prosperity and more inclusive growth; inclusive, just and peaceful societies; and protection of the environment and natural resources. If SDG 5 is not attained, all SDGs will be compromised.

Source: UN Women, 2018.
A key factor influencing the low economic participation of women is unpaid care work, which is significantly unevenly distributed between women and men in the region. Women perform 80 to 90 per cent of all unpaid care tasks, spending on average 4.7 times more time on these than men.7
Data are insufficient to measure regional progress for most targets under SDG 5.

For an up-to-date view of SDG 5 data at the national and regional levels and an analysis of data availability, please refer to the ESCWA Arab SDG Monitor.

On the road to 2030 – suggested policy approaches to accelerate progress on SDG 5

■ Engaging constructively with religious institutions to rethink the relationships between religion and human rights, justice and equality, and support amendments to gender-sensitive personal status laws.
■ Promoting greater coherence among different legal frameworks and regulatory systems to close existing loopholes, and ensuring consistency and greater enforcement in applying laws to advance gender equality and protect women’s rights.
■ Supporting shifts in the attitudes of public servants and legal personnel to push for the effective implementation of legislation that combats violence and discrimination against women and promotes their economic inclusion.
■ Focusing on punitive and preventive measures in combatting sexual harassment and violence against women; prevention has proven to be effective and cost-efficient.
■ Ensuring binding budgetary commitments to implement national frameworks and legislation on combatting violence against women, and more effectively using macroeconomic policies to promote economic opportunities for women and enhance their participation in the labour force.
■ Developing adequate care-related legislation and extending benefits to both men and women to encourage the sharing of unpaid care duties and to enable women to reconcile career and care responsibilities; and considering the expansion of care benefits to the large share of women workers in the informal sector.
■ Developing an evidence base and gender-disaggregated data comparable across countries and over time to support necessary reforms in laws, policies and institutions as well as the assessment of reforms and gender-responsive budgeting initiatives.

B. The policy landscape for SDG 5

In the Arab region, as is the case globally, gender inequality results from discriminatory, patriarchal social norms and practices. Patriarchal beliefs that privilege and empower men govern many aspects of life, with laws often reflecting and perpetuating discrimination and codifying inequality. While barriers to gender equality persist, several countries have advanced on eliminating gender discriminatory legal provisions. Substantial legislative progress has been made towards combatting violence against women and girls and enhancing female labour participation and gender equality in the workplace.
A proliferation of policies and legislative changes, however, has yet to have a catalytic or transformative impact on women’s equality and participation in the economy or politics.

■ Policy changes related to gender equality and women’s empowerment and rights are often driven more by international frameworks than national priorities.

■ By and large, the debate on gender issues is mostly confined to closed circles (national women’s machineries) that are already well aware and convinced of the concepts. There is a lack of regulatory frameworks requiring the integration of gender considerations into the work of different national institutions. Consequently, buy-in and the willingness to actively support and participate in change suffers.

■ Policies and legislative amendments are not taking place as part of an agenda with a well-defined objective for what needs to be achieved. Governments have no clear vision for gender equality.

■ A glaring policy gap exists in addressing indirect and entrenched discrimination against women. Legal standards, policies and rules viewed as gender neutral and that seem to treat everyone equally might end up being gender blind or less fair to women (for example, by not having a quota system or requiring employees to work full-time).

■ Gender equality continues to be considered a stand-alone issue. It has yet to be mainstreamed across policies (fiscal, monetary, sectoral employment, industrial, skills development, active labour market, entrepreneurship, loan disbursement, etc.).

■ Work on social and behavioural changes is inadequate. This is needed alongside legislative changes to address negative social norms and practices that drive domestic as well as other forms of violence and discrimination against women, and to ensure progress on gender equality.8

Changing the architecture of development funding and its conditions to support alignment with national gender equality strategies can improve progress on SDG 5 in the region. This will help ensure effectiveness in planning and the mainstreaming of national gender concerns in sectoral development projects and programmes.
There is little coherence and consistency in legislation for women’s equality in the region. Personal status (family) laws are informed by man-made understandings of religious injunctions. If these laws are not changed, labour laws and penal codes aimed at promoting equal rights for women will fail to produce the desired outcomes. For instance, amending the Labour Law in Saudi Arabia to promote women’s economic empowerment and the Penal Code in Lebanon to combat domestic violence without introducing commensurate changes to personal status laws will not be effective. Personal status laws maintain the guardianship system in Saudi Arabia and serve as the final reference for domestic violence in Lebanon. Moreover, progressive reforms to family law based on the principle of equality will not translate into empowerment and equality for women if they are not reflected in related legal frameworks. Changes to the Family Law in Tunisia, for example, did not boost economic participation for women given unaddressed inconsistencies with the Labour Code. More comprehensive and coherent legal reforms are imperative to accelerate the attainment of gender equality.

Source: ESCWA, 2023b.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women



Barriers to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment became more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated the disadvantaged position of many women. This was demonstrated on several fronts, including: a significant increase in reports of gender-based violence and a decrease in the provision of and access to related prevention, protection and response services; a disruption in the availability of reproductive and sexual health services; a further disproportionate increase in unpaid care responsibilities; and an adverse impact on the economic participation of women, especially those working in the informal sector and service sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, as well as small and medium entrepreneurs with limited access to technology and finance. The International Labour Organization estimates that the pandemic caused about 1.1 million women in the region to lose their jobs in 2020. This carries a high societal cost given already low economic participation levels among women before the crisis.

The response of Arab countries to the pandemic varied in size but not in composition. Marginal budgets were allocated for policies to protect against gender-based violence. Ninety per cent of the regional stimulus package aimed at safeguarding employment and economic activities, with a mere 6 per cent considered gender-sensitive.

Factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including confinement, economic difficulties and intensified patriarchal norms, accelerated the already growing trend of online violence against women, based on research in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the State of Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen. It was found that 49 per cent of female Internet users in Arab countries felt unsafe and affirmed a link between online and offline violence against women. Among women subjected to online violence in 2020, 44 per cent said that it escalated offline. The lack of gender-specific legal frameworks for combatting online violence intensifies the impacts.

Sources: UNDP, 2021; UN Women, 2021; EuroMed Rights, 2021; UN Women, 2022.

D. Policies to leave no one behind: intersectionality and gender equality

Women and girls across the Arab region face structural barriers that influence all aspects of their lives. Gender intersects with other factors, including race, ethnicity, class, age, disability and location, compounding inequality. Conflict and instability further worsen the situation. The interplay of inequalities puts some groups of women at a higher risk of being left behind, making it more challenging to promote gender equality and achieve the SDGs. It is important to consider the different layers of inequality that women face in diverse contexts. This can improve the focus and effectiveness of development efforts to reduce exclusion and ensure that gender equality measures have wide-reaching impacts.88

Many Arab governments have introduced policies or initiatives that target more vulnerable groups of women. Rarely, however, are these designed to respond to intersecting inequalities.

Table 5.1

Examples of policies to leave no one behind
Women from poorer rural areas largely do not have access to social protection and quality health care, with a larger proportion working in agriculture compared to men. They have limited access to land and other agricultural assets, and lack income security as they tend to work in family businesses or as daily wage workers on large farms. a Limited access to land represents one of the biggest challenges for women in areas where most economic activity depends on it.b. In 2019, Morocco adopted Law No. 62.17 on the administrative supervision of communities living on collective land and the management of their property, granting women equal access to this type of land. c This was facilitated by a grass-roots women’s movement that influenced the national debate on the issue and changed community power dynamics.d
Women and girls with disabilities are less likely to have access to education, including TVET, as well as employment and health care. This affects their life prospects. Further, their reproductive needs are often overlooked, and non-mainstream health services, such as rehabilitation therapy and the provision of assistive devices, are not consistently provided and covered. Challenges vary within countries and communities. In emergency settings, adolescent girls with disabilities are at a heightened risk of sexual abuse and exploitation.e Law No. 20 of 2017 on the Rights of Persons with Disability in Jordan stipulates that the Ministry of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and other relevant authorities must guarantee physical and content accessibility to ensure that women with disabilities fully benefit from reproductive health programmes and services. It also introduces, among others, a quota system that requires institutions, depending on their size, to reserve a certain percentage of job vacancies for persons with disabilities. Article 4.f. underlines equality in rights and duties between women and men with disabilities.f
Women in the informal economy are often not covered by labour laws and work in poor conditions with low pay. They are usually vulnerable to abuse and do not benefit from social protection schemes, including pensions, health coverage and paid leave. Without social benefits, women are prone to poverty in old age.g With women representing 36 per cent of micro-entrepreneurs,h,i Morocco passed Law No. 114-13 of 2015 on the Status of Auto-entrepreneurs to encourage the formalization of micro-entrepreneurial businesses. Among other provisions, it provides for social and medical coverage.j
Migrant women workers are mostly employed in industry, agriculture or as domestic workers.k They are often not protected by labour laws, facing barriers in accessing protective and other services, and are unaware of their rights, making them vulnerable to trafficking.l Abused female migrant domestic workers who flee their employersm and other women migrant workers in irregular situations face particularly high risks of trafficking. Domestic workers are covered under Article 3 of the Labour Law in Iraq. Protection is provided through provisions barring discrimination and forced labour.n
The open-door migration policy followed by Morocco, particularly the 2017 mass regularization of more than 50,000 irregular migrants, including all irregular women migrants, is a notable step towards protecting women migrants’ rights and halting the trafficking of women and girls.o
Refugee women and girls may be socially isolated, with legal limitations on their ability to work and no available information or assistance to help them join the labour market.p When they do, they work in the informal sector as daily wage earners.q Refugee and internally displaced women and girls who lack civil documentation face a higher risk of trafficking and exploitation.r In Egypt, refugees are entitled to work under the Labour Law. The Egypt Response Planss recognized the special situation of refugee women by maintaining a focus, among others, on improving their sustainable livelihoods and self-reliance through skills development and self or wage employment.t

Nationality laws, infringements on human rights and increased risks of vulnerability


Arab nationality laws often reflect and perpetuate discriminatory gender norms. Reforms have stalled over more than a decade, with the majority of countries either denying women the right to confer nationality to their children and spouses or limiting this right. This results in significant human rights violations for women and their families. It violates international laws ratified by countries and has far-reaching consequences for all aspects of family life.

Without citizenship, children and foreign spouses may be subject to a range of restrictions in their employment and education opportunities as well as in their ability to open bank accounts and own or inherit property. This increases their vulnerability, potentially resulting in intergenerational poverty. The risk of statelessness escalates. Stateless women and girls are more likely to be trafficked, while stateless girls are more threatened by child, early and forced marriage.

The intersection of gender discrimination in nationality laws and informal child marriage, a regional challenge on the rise in the wake of massive displacement, increases the chance that children born of such unions will lack the documentation needed to secure citizenship. This risk is also high for children born to low-skilled migrant women workers, who may face daunting legal and practical challenges in registering births and conferring their nationality.

To date, only seven Arab countries grant women the right to pass their nationality to their children (Algeria, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen). The Constitution in Iraq prescribes equality in passing nationality but the Nationality Law only upholds this right for women when children are born inside the country. The Interim Constitution in Somalia stipulates equality in granting nationality but the Citizenship Law was not updated to reflect this. The Interim Constitution in the Sudan also guarantees equality in granting nationality but this was not reflected in the Nationality Law. Algeria guarantees equal rights for women to pass their nationality to their foreign husbands.



Sources:ESCWA and others, 2018; ESCWA and others, 2022; UNHCR, 2023; UNICEF and others, 2021; ESCWA and others, 2021.

E. The financing landscape

Adequate and well-targeted allocations in national budgets to eliminate gender discrimination and promote equality are fundamental for progress in achieving SDG 5. 89 Nonetheless, available information shows that such allocations are generally inadequate in Arab countries.

Existing budgetary allocations tend to cluster mainly around ending violence against women: 90
  • ■ Government entities in six Arab countries (Bahrain, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia) have made budgetary pledges to implement existing legislation on combatting violence against women. These are not binding, however.
  • ■ Only the United Arab Emirates makes binding budgetary commitments to ending violence against women, allocating funds to relevant plans and programmes.
  • ■ There are no budgetary pledges to enforce legislation on ending violence against women in other countries.
Only Iraq and the United Arab Emirates have developed a national strategy or plan of action on sexual and reproductive health with sufficient budgetary, human and administrative resources allocated for implementation. Eleven other countries 91 have a national strategy or plan of action but have not allocated resources for implementation. 92

Gender-responsive budgeting helps to prioritize gender equality in national policies. It examines public budget allocations, spending and taxation using a gender perspective, and consequently supports budgetary reallocations to better promote gender equality and the advancement of women. 93 Some aspects that prevent women from entering the job market and that could be addressed through fiscal policy include: inadequate access to quality education (see the chapter on SDG 4), insufficient provisions for maternity and parental care leave, the lack of mobility and gaps in equal pay for equal work. 94

Gender-responsive budgeting initiatives vary considerably between countries, and are generally fragmented. 95,96 They involve governments more than other actors, 97 and have mostly focused on enhancing access to education and health and increasing female labour force participation. There is room for more effective use of fiscal policies for women empowerment, such as to address discriminatory tax systems. Barriers to gender-responsive budgeting include a lack of transparency in budgetary processes, budget deficits and limited fiscal space, and inadequate disaggregated data and statistical capacities. 98 No Arab country has yet developed a comprehensive framework for gender-responsive budgeting but most have started applying some gender-budgeting tools, as shown in the table 5.2. 99

Table 5.2

Status of gender-responsive budgeting tools in selected Arab countries
Gender-responsive budgeting tools Algeria Egypt Iraq Lebanon Morocco State of
Palestine		 Tunisia
Gender budgeting frameworka X X
Gender provisions in public finance and budget laws X
Gender budgeting statement X X X
Gender impact assessments X
Budget circular and statements include instructions related to gender budgeting
Performance indicators related to gender equality goals X X
Fiscal data disaggregated by gender X X
Budget classification with a gender perspective X
Ex-post gender impact assessments of budget expenditures X
Audit of the budget covers gender aspects
Source: METAC, 2019, p. 5.
Note: The table is based on answers provided to a country questionnaire developed by the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund and distributed prior to a workshop on gender-responsive budgeting in Amman, 12-14 February 2019.
a “Iraq and Tunisia’s answers […] may be overstated […] likely due to different interpretations of [the] gender budgeting framework across countries”.
Country-specific approaches that take into consideration how public spending is managed are best suited to advance the use of gender-responsive budgeting. These approaches should be developed with a long-term perspective while accounting for existing domestic constraints. Capacity-building opportunities should be provided for all sectoral ministries responsible for the design and implementation of development policies and programmes and the mainstreaming of gender. 100

Gender-budgeting in Morocco



Work on gender-budgeting in Morocco started in 2002 and has since advanced gradually. In 2006, the Ministry of Finance and Privatization (now Ministry of Economy and Finance) issued its first Gender Report with assessments of four ministries and information on existing gender gaps and future performance goals. The Gender Report has evolved over time to cover 31 public entities responsible for 80 per cent of the national budget.

Morocco has linked its gender budget work to its national development strategy. The Plan for Equality for 2012-2016 included 143 measures that support gender equality in education, health and the labour market. Amendments to legislation were introduced to remove discriminatory provisions and promote gender equality.

In 2014, an Organic Finance Law was approved requiring the consideration of gender equality in outlining performance objectives, results and indicators in all sector budgets. It mandates the inclusion of the Gender Report in the yearly Finance Bill. Efforts to collect sex-disaggregated data have sought to improve understanding of the development needs of women and men.

Source: IMF, 2016.

F. Regional dimensions

■ Promoting legislative cooperation at the regional level: Established in 2014, the Coalition of Women Parliamentarians from Arab Countries to Combat Violence Against Women is a network that brings together women parliamentarians from 13 Arab countries. 101 They share experiences and good practices on ending violence and discrimination against women and girls, and join forces to advocate legislative changes.

Through the collaboration with national parliaments and other governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in five Arab countries in 2017, progress was made in three countries on removing legal provisions that allowed rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims. 102 The Coalition also developed the first regional framework to eliminate violence against women. The Regional Declaration to Combat Violence against Women and Girls was endorsed by the League of Arab States in December 2022. 103 Regional frameworks and their monitoring mechanisms help incorporate international standards into national legislation. 104

Devising and endorsing a regional roadmap for addressing common shortcomings in legal systems on gender equality could help advance the elimination of gender-based violence. Such a roadmap should bolster coherent implementation of laws on violence against women as well as the mainstreaming of gender in all laws, policies and strategies to help ensure consistency and connect theory and practice. 105

■ Strengthening regional cooperation on comparable data collection on violence against women: Data are key in informing legislation, policies and programmes to effectively address violence against women. Currently, data are not comparable at the regional level. Data gaps in countries are substantial.106 Greater cooperation to support the production of comparable data following globally agreed methodologies and ethical standards and to further develop data collection systems and tools would be beneficial, including through South-South cooperation.
■ Providing a platform for long-term constructive engagement and partnership with prominent religious institutions in the region to inform changes in personal status laws and help activate the realization of State human rights obligations: This is an important entry point for legislative reform, given that personal status laws are based on religion and religious interpretations, and considering existing power alliances and interests between institutionalized religious structures and political structures. It could facilitate sustained interactions among religious authorities, decision-makers, and development and human rights actors, notably national women’s movements, following an egalitarian religious discourse emphasizing progressive religious interpretations. This process could help support advances towards equality and justice for women by closing loopholes in legislation and ensuring proper enforcement of laws and policies to end violence against women and promote economic empowerment.

Endnotes

1. The regional average does not include the Comoros and Mauritania.

2. UNICEF and others, 2021.

3.Countries where the practice is prevalent include Djibouti, Egypt, the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen (UNICEF and others, 2021).

4. The figure for Somalia is for 2020; for Djibouti, it is for 2019; and for Iraq, it is for 2018 (ESCWA Arab SDG Monitor, accessed on 9 January 2024).

5. The regional average includes countries for which data are available (ESCWA Arab SDG Monitor, accessed on 9 January 2024).

6. See the ILOSTAT database (accessed on 9 January 2024).

7. ESCWA, 2022.

8. ESCWA and others, 2019a.

9. UNICEF and others, 2021.

10. United Nations, 2017.

11. ESCWA and others, 2019a.

12. Ibid.

13. UN Women’s Global Database on Violence against Women, National Profile for Algeria, accessed on 17 January 2023.

14. ESCWA and others, 2019a.

15. Law No. 204 Amending Law No. 293/2014 of 7/5/2014 on the Protection of Women and Other Family Members from Domestic Violence, issued on 30 December 2020, Official Gazette, Number 1 of 07/01/2021.

16. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on the United Arab Emirates).

17. ESCWA and others, 2019a.

18. Countries with such legislation include Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

19. ESCWA and others, 2022.

20. See the Gender Justice and the Law Portal, “detailed information” section, accessed on 10 May 2023. This section of the portal does not contain information on Algeria, the Comoros, Djibouti, Libya and Mauritania.

21. See the NORMLEX Information System on International Labour Standards, Observation (CEACR) – adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013).

22 . ESCWA and others, 2018 (Profiles on Djibouti and Libya); ESCWA and others, 2022.

23. See Algeria, Voluntary National Review 2019.

24. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms”section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

25. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Lebanon).

26. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Morocco).

27. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Saudi Arabia).

28. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Jordan).

29. ESCWA and others, 2018 (Profile on Libya).

30. UN Women, n.d.

31. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Morocco).

32. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

33. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Lebanon).

34. See the Gender Justice and the Law Portal, “detailed information” section, accessed on 13 June 2023.

35. Ibid.

36. ESCWA and others, 2019a.

37. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women stipulates that “sexual assault, including rape, [be] characterized as a crime against the right to personal security and physical, sexual and psychological integrity”. See the CEDAW Committee’s General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 (2017), CEDAW/C/GC/35, p. 12.

38. ESCWA and others, 2018 (Profiles on Algeria and Libya); ESCWA and others, 2022.

39. ESCWA and others, 2018 (Profile on Djibouti).

40. ESCWA and IOM, 2017.

41. See UN Women’s Global Database on Violence against Women, National Profile for Jordan, accessed on 17 January 2023.

42. ESCWA and IOM, 2017.

43. Other countries that have adopted comprehensive anti-trafficking laws that provide punitive, protective and preventive measures are: Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and United Arab Emirates.

44. ESCWA and IOM, 2017.

45. UNICEF and others, 2021.

46. The harmful practice of child marriage disproportionately affects women and girls, with its prevalence increasing in times of conflict and displacement.

47. ESCWA and others, 2019a.

48. UNICEF, 2017.

49. See Jordan, First Voluntary National Review 2017.

50. See Lebanon, Voluntary National Review 2018.

51. See Tunisia, Voluntary National Review 2019.

52. UNICEF, 2021.

53. See UNFPA’s website page on “Female Genital Mutilation”.

54. See Egypt, Third Voluntary National Review 2021; UNFPA, 2018.

55. See Mauritania, Voluntary National Review 2019; UNFPA and UNICEF, 2017.

56. UNICEF, 2020.

57. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Oman).

58. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Tunisia).

59. UN Women, 2015.

60. UN Women, 2017.

61. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

62 . The labour law prohibits employers from firing women on the grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave in 18 Arab countries (ESCWA, 2023b).

63. Five Arab countries (Djibouti, Iraq, Libya, Morocco and Somalia) guarantee maternity leave according to international standards (ESCWA and others, 2018 (Profiles on Djibouti and Libya)); ESCWA and others, 2022.

64. Governments in only four Arab countries (Algeria, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia) cover maternity leave benefits. In Egypt, the Government covers 75 per cent of maternity leave benefits for private sector employees; the employer covers the remaining 25 per cent (ESCWA, 2023b).

65. ESCWA, n.d.

66. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

67. See Jordan, First Voluntary National Review 2017.

68. This helps fight stereotypes on the role of men and women in childcare provision and in paid work (ESCWA and others, 2019a).

69. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

70. ESCWA, n.d.

71. Ibid.

72. See the Gender Justice and the Law Portal, “detailed information” section, accessed on 13 June 2023.

73. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website,“Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

74. Ibid.

75. ESCWA and others, 2018 (Profile on Bahrain).

76. Official Gazette, Law No. (10) for the year 2023 amending the Labour Law.

77. ESCWA and others, 2022 (Profile on Saudi Arabia).

78. Unequal economic opportunities for women manifest in discrimination in pay based on gender. This is rooted in traditional roles that society assigns to women and men. ILO standards require equal pay for work of equal value regardless of the type of work involved. This is to guarantee greater equality by accounting for historically undervalued jobs primarily undertaken by women (ESCWA and others, 2019a).

79. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

80. Algeria (1991), the Comoros (2014), Djibouti (2007), Libya (2011), Morocco (2005), Saudi Arabia (2012), Somalia (1974) and the Syrian Arab Republic (2010).

81. They include: Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, the Sudan and Tunisia. See the Gender Justice and the Law Portal, “detailed information” section, accessed on 13 June 2023.

82. ESCWA and others, 2019a.

83. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

84. Two other countries in the region have legislation that prohibit gender-based discrimination in access to credit: Djibouti (1996) and Morocco (2005).

85. The male guardianship system grants men the authority to decide on behalf of women under their guardianship on matters regarding work and travel, limiting their employment options.

86. See the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law website, “Reforms” section, accessed on 27 December 2022.

87. Ibid.

88. ESCWA, 2018.

89. IMF, 2016.

90. See the Gender Justice and the Law Portal, “detailed information” section, accessed on 3 May 2023.

91. They are Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, the State of Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan and Tunisia.

92. See the Gender Justice and the Law Portal, “detailed information” section, accessed on 3 May 2023.

93. See the gender-responsive budgeting definition on the ESCWA website.

94. METAC, 2019.

95. ESCWA, UNDP and UNICEF, 2022.

96. Countries that have taken steps towards gender-responsive budgeting are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, the State of Palestine, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

97. UN Women, 2016.

98. ESCWA, UNDP and UNICEF, 2022.

99. METAC, 2019.

100. Ibid.

101. The countries are Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the State of Palestine, the Sudan and Tunisia.

102. The Westminster Foundation for Democracy programme, Enhancing women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), accessed on 14 May 2023.

103. Westminster Foundation for Democracy, 2022.

104. UN Women and WHO, 2020.

105. EuroMed Rights, 2021.

106. UNICEF and others, 2021.

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__________ (2019a). Gender, Justice and Equality before the Law: Analysis of Progress and Challenges in the Arab States Region.

__________ (2019b). Shelters for Women Survivors of Violence: Availability and Accessibility in the Arab Region.

__________ (2021). Background Paper for Roundtable 2 of the Regional Review Conference of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in the Arab Region. 24-25 February.

__________ (2022). Gender Justice and the Law – National Profiles.

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2022). Social Expenditure and Gender Equality in the Arab Region. Background Paper.

EuroMed Rights (2021). Spaces of Violence and Resistance: Women’s Rights in the Digital World – The Scenario in the MENA Region.

Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (2022). Issue Brief 12 on Addressing Vulnerability to Trafficking in Persons.

International Labour Organization (ILO) (2017). Regional Brief for the Arab States: 2017 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery and Child Labour. Geneva: ILO.

__________ (2020). Brief No. 2: Sexual Harassment in the World of Work. Geneva: ILO.

__________ (2022). Pay Transparency Legislation: Implications for Employers’ and Workers’ Organizations. Geneva: ILO.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) (2016). Middle East and Central Asia: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts. IMF Working Paper WP/16/151. Washington, DC: IMF.

League of Arab States, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and AMAN (2014). Anti-Trafficking Legislation in the Arab World.

Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC) (2019). Gender Responsive Budgeting in METAC Countries.

Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) (2018). Admission and Stay Based on Human Rights and Humanitarian Grounds: A Mapping of National Practice.

__________ (2023). Rape and State Party Obligations Under CEDAW: Review of Protection against GBV AW by CEDAW Convention, GR 35 and CEDAW Optional Protocol and by the Mandate of the UN SR VAW, Its Causes and Consequences – Main Findings and Recommendations to SP for Implementation.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2020). COVID-19 Crisis in the MENA Region: Impact on Gender Equality and Policy Responses.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Labour Organization (ILO), and Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) (2020). Changing Laws and Breaking Barriers for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

UN Women (n.d.). Ending Violence Against Women.

__________ (2015). Why Macroeconomic Policy Matters for Gender Equality.

__________ (2016). Gender-Responsive Budgeting in the Arab States: Experiences in Nine Countries.

__________ (2017). Macroeconomic Policy and Women’s Economic Empowerment.

__________ (2018). Turning Promises into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

__________ (2021). Assessing Macroeconomic Response Policies to COVID-19 in the Arab Region: What Implications for Women’s Economic Empowerment?

__________ (2022). Violence Against Women in the Online Space: Insights from Multi-Country Research in the Arab States.

UN Women, and World Health Organization (WHO) (2020). Global and Regional Frameworks to End VAW.

United Nations (2017). UN Study Tackles Violence Against Women in Arab Region Using Economic Model. New York: United Nations.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2017). Child Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa.

__________ (2020). Sudan Enters New Era for Girl Rights with Criminalization of FGM.

__________ (2021). Child Marriage in the Context of COVID-19: Analysis of Trends, Programming and Alternative Approaches in the MENA Region.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and others (2021). Situational Analysis of Women and Girls in the MENA and Arab States Region: A Decade Review 2010-2020.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2021). Assessing the Potential Impact of COVID-19 on Women and Girls in Arab States.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2020). Egypt Response Plan for Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa, Iraq and Yemen 2020.

__________ (2023). Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2023.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (2013). UNFPA Regional Strategy on Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence in the Arab Region 2014-2017.

__________ (2018). Brief on the Medicalization of Female Genital Mutilation.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and American University of Beirut (AUB) (2022). Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights in the Arab Region: An Overview.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2017). 2016 Annual Report of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Accelerating Change.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2020). Child Marriage and the Law.

Westminster Foundation for Democracy (2022). The Coalition of Women Parliamentarians from Arab Countries Launches First Regional Declaration to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls. 16 December.