Writer Nawal El Saadawi inaugurates the AECID’s Gender Workshop

On 9th and 10th September, the workshop “On the road to gender equality in North Africa and the Middle East” will be held in Madrid. The opening session will feature the participation of Egyptian writer, psychiatrist and feminist Nawal El Saadawi, among other prominent speakers, and Tunisian jurist and expert on gender violence Sana Ben Achour. Organised by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) in collaboration with the FIIAPP, the workshop will address the problems, interests, and demands of women in these two regions with the aim of improving the support of Spanish Cooperation in the struggle for women’s rights and gender equality.

Over 90 people from civil society organisations and institutions from nine countries will participate in the workshop, and they will be able to engage in open dialogue in the opening session and final presentation of the conclusions. Over the course of two days, there will be five working sessions on issues that, following consultation with the participants, are felt to reflect the concerns and interests of North African and Middle Eastern women:

– Political rights and political participation of women

– Violence against women

– Social awareness of the rights of women

– Economic empowerment, access to and participation in the labour market

– Legislative reforms; access to and application of justice.

The event is being held under the umbrella of MASAR (the Arabic word for ‘road’), a cooperation programme focused on democratic governance in the Arab world.

Registration

Please confirm your attendance at the public sessions:

Inauguration, 9th September at 10:00 a.m. at the School of Diplomacy: http://bit.ly/SPANISDEV-Encuentros

Closing and presentation of the conclusions of the working sessions, 10th September at 4:00 p.m. at the AECID headquarters: http://bit.ly/1bMbZed