7th CWD sheds light on gender issues in North Africa's democratic transition

Abstract

Emerging gender issues in North Africa during the recent events calling for transition to democracy were at the center of Friday afternoon’s session of the 7 th Committee on Women and Development (CWD). Presentations made by representatives from Tunisia, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire and Algeria made it clear that women in North Africa have been widely underrepresented in almost every part of the decision-making process according to the Information and Communication Service of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). “Women have been excluded for a long time from many different areas and the ruling class has always given privilege to a few people.” It was underlined, that amongst those Tunisians who used social networks like Facebook and Twitter to mobilize people for the Revolution of January 2011, there were many women. The representative from Morocco pointed out that “the marginalization of women has been one of the major causes of the revolution.” New mechanisms are needed to ensure human rights and equal power-sharing between men and women, she said: “The issues of women must finally be taken seriously.”