Women in the Mediterranean: Still Discriminated Against?

While in the EU’s Mediterranean countries inequality is mostly linked to the socialsphere, and in particular refers to labour market dynamics, in the Middle East and NorthernAfrica (MENA) area the situation is more complicated as the social and private spheresoverlap and cultural and religious factors have a great impact on women’s autonomy andopportunities beyond the family perimeter. The different challenges women are facing onthe two sides of the Mediterranean have sometimes led to incomprehension and misperceptions.Western-supported policies devoted to closing the gap between men and womenin the Southern Mediterranean area have overlooked those countries’ peculiarities, simplyexporting models tailored for EU’s member states. The EU’s attempts to strengthen relationswith the Mediterranean countries on a multilevel basis have not rescued women frommarginalization. Nevertheless, during the 2011 awakening, women played an importantrole in activating civil society and they are still to play a role in the modernization of theircountries.