Workshop on "Women economic participation and ICT in the Euro-Mediterranean Region"

Last Thursday 26th of March AFAEMME participated in the multi-stakeholders workshop, organized by the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean to discuss the constraints and opportunities of the women’s economic participation in the Information and Communications technology (ICT) sector within the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The event was held at the UfM headquarters, in Barcelona, and gathered over 40 participants from international and regional organisations, development agencies, civil society organisations and the private sector. Donors and representatives from UN Women, the European Training Foundation, the Union of Arab ICT organisations and private companies such as Microsoft also participated in the discussions.

AFAEMME presented some of its main findings about obstacles and opportunities for women in the ICT sector. The Association also mentioned two of its main projects: the UfM labeled "Young Women as Job Creators" project which offers training, advice and mentoring to young women entrepreneurs from Albania, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia holding technological and scientific degrees; and the European project "She decides, You Succeed" which analyses obstacles faced by women in the ICT sector when trying to achieve decision-making positions and highlights the benefits for companies of having more women in middle and top management positions.

All the participants stressed the need for a comprehensive approach and complementarity between different actors to overcome the main challenges and obstacles that still hinder the equal participation of women in the ICT sector in the region. They explored the opportunities offered by the sector and proposed suggestions for the implementation of specific actions to enhance women’s economic participation.