Genre et commerce

As women overtake men in education, they are running a third of the world’s businesses. However, women business owners are concentrated in small and micro-businesses, and still only 5 per cent or less of CEOs of the largest global corporations are women. This report highlights the business case for gender diversity and the obstacles women still face as well as ways to move ahead, underlining the fact that women’s presence in the labour market is increasingly significant for economic growth and development at both enterprise and national levels. It advocates for a greater role for national business organizations, which can assist their member companies with putting in place policies and measures to recruit and retain talent. The report also shows that women still have to deal with a number of hurdles to reach positions as CEOs and company board members. While women have advanced in business and management, they continue to be shut out of higher level economic decision-making despite activism in the last decade to smash the “glass ceiling”. The report calls for a closer examination of the career paths of women and men to ensure that subtle gender biases are eliminated, proposing an array of initiatives that challenge gender stereotypes and corporate cultures, and that seek to reconcile work and family responsibilities.

This report examines how current legal provisions in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are impacting women’s ability to fully participate in economic life, both as employees and entrepreneurs. It is based on a comparative analysis of the various rights set out in constitutions, personal status laws, labour laws, in addition to tax and business laws. The report recognises the considerable progress made – in particular in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings – following the adoption of constitutional and institutional reforms to strengthen women’s status. Yet ensuring sufficient opportunities for women remains a challenge in the six countries. The report suggests that this may be due to different factors such as: the existence of certain laws that are gender discriminatory, contradictions between various legal frameworks, lack of enforcement mechanisms, and barriers for women in accessing justice. Through targeted policies, countries can tackle these challenges, and help unleash women’s potential to boost growth, competitiveness and inclusive social development.

Ce document présente un rapport annuel sur les femmes au parlement en 2017 - Bilan de l'année. Ce rapport fournit une mise à jour et une analyse des progrès réalisés et des revers rencontrés par les femmes au Parlement suite aux élections et aux renouvellements organisés sur une année. Produit chaque année à l'occasion de la Journée internationale de la femme (8 mars), il présente des données sur les femmes dans les parlements nationaux, les tendances régionales et mondiales, des informations sur les femmes occupant les postes de président et les candidates. Il analyse également les mécanismes visant à soutenir l'accès des femmes au parlement. Le rapport est court et facile à lire. Il fournit un aperçu de la situation des femmes dans les parlements du monde entier..

The report synthesizes findings from in-depth interviews conducted with women beneficiaries of projects in Egypt and Morocco, and provides a preliminary understanding of household-level results of BMZ funded women’s economic empowerment activities for women who had experienced some aspect of economic empowerment. It provides insight into how and why they experienced changes within their households, as well as on unanticipated effects that can only be captured through qualitative research.

The labour market in most MENA countries is highly segmented, with women’s work and enterprise activity clustering in a narrow number of sectors considered to be culturally ‘appropriate’. Women are overrepresented in the public sector, which is seen to provide a more accommodating and flexible environment than the private sector, particularly for married women. While the portion of women working in agriculture varies across countries, some evidence points to an increasing ‘feminisation of agriculture’ in the region. Though statistics are considered unreliable, available data indicates that much of women’s work is informal, offering little social insurance and entitlements, and typically low wages. A significant portion of women’s work in the region is thought to be ‘vulnerable’ employment, meaning it offers them little protection against economic shocks.