The UfM Regional Platform on Women Empowerment brought together 60 representatives of 26 UfM Member States, EU institutions, international organisations and regional stakeholders to discuss progress on the implementation of the 2022 5^th UfM Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society and prepare the ground for the in-person Regional Platform meeting planned for November 2026 in Barcelona.

The meeting provided a platform for regional policy dialogue and exchange on gender equality priorities and concrete strategies across the Euro-Mediterranean region. Discussions took place in the context of evolving regional and global frameworks, including among others the outcomes of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), the European Commission Gender Equality Strategy, as well as the the EU Pact for the Mediterranean.

In the opening session, the Co-Presidencies (European Commission Directorate-General for Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf and Jordanian Ministry of social Development), as well as the UfM Secretariat highlighted the importance of regional cooperation and translating political commitments into concrete action to accelerate progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment across the Mediterranean. “Across the UfM agenda, women’s empowerment is increasingly recognised not as a standalone issue, but as essential to the future resilience and prosperity of our region. This is reflected across our ministerial declarations and workplans – from employment and economic participation to climate, innovation and education. All the recent UfM initiatives aligned with the priorities of the Ministerial Declaration may differ in focus (gendered impacts of climate change, female leadership in Academia, access to finance etc), but they share the same objective: ensuring that women are recognised not only as beneficiaries, but as leaders, innovators and agents of change.” said Petra Kežman, Deputy Secretary General for Human Development at UfM.

The UfM Secretariat presented the updated roadmap to operationalise the 2022 UfM Ministerial commitments on women’s empowerment, translating them into concrete actions. It is structured around six strategic pillars covering economic empowerment, climate action and WPS, ending violence, leadership, monitoring, and partnerships. The roadmap combines policy dialogue, regional programmes, and multi-stakeholder cooperation to deliver measurable outcomes.

Representatives from UfM Member States, as well as OECD, UNDP, the European Commission, discussed progress and emerging priorities, in terms of legal frameworks, new governance mechanisms, flagship initiatives notably on women participation in public life and labour market, role of private sector in supporting job creation for women, access to finance for women entrepreneurs, emerging opportunities linked to the green, digital and care economies, gender-based violence, data monitoring.

The platform also allowed to introduce the next UfM Gender Equality Monitoring Mechanism exercise which will allows measuring and reporting of the progress made on women’s rights between 2020 and 2025 and provide policy recommendations to close the gender gap in the region. The first exercise was conducted during the Covid pandemic in 2021 and was published in March 2022 showing the impact this crisis had on women.