The Euro-Mediterranean Women’s Foundation (hereafter, the Foundation) is an non-profit independent organisation launched in 2014. It is structured as a Network of networks bringing together all gender equality actors in the Euro-Mediterranean space with the aim of:
Advancing in the common fight for equal rights of women and men to participate in political, economic, civil and social life. Eradicating all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls. Encouraging a change in attitude and behaviour in favour of gender equality.
The Foundation was created with a clear will to be closely linked to the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), which comprises the 28 EU Member States and 15 Mediterranean Partner Countries, through a multi-issue and multi-actor approach.
The Foundation is the result of several observations:
The actors working for gender equality are isolated; The knowledge available on women and gender is dispersed and difficult to access. Moreover, the sharing and pooling of resources is essential to make equality evolve in the current framework of economic, institutional and social crisis; The successful practices undertaken by civil society and the public institutions in terms of equality are rarely reproduced in other contexts.
The Foundation establishes links between knowledge and action. It connects people and projects to make gender equality advance by developing innovative tools to strengthen the role of women in the Euro-Mediterranean space.
Promote dialogue, encourage networking, foster partnerships and facilitate synergies between gender equality actors involved in improving women’s living conditions.
Develop the production and transmission of knowledge on equality, women and gender, and monitor the progress of the commitments of the UfM States in terms of gender equality at a local and civil society level.
Support and increase the visibility of actors’ initiatives aimed at empowering women and advocating public policies sensitive to women’s rights.
The Foundation operates along five main lines:
The Foundation is structured as a network of networks of gender equality actors: the associations Network, the research Network, the ministerial departments Network, the local and regional authorities Network, the media Network, and the enterprise and unions Network. Each equality actor can exchange experiences with the members of their network and have their own profile page thanks to a multilingual web platform.
The Foundation’s internet platform provides access to an online documentation centre bringing together knowledge on women’s rights and gender in the Euro-Mediterranean region (legal texts, papers, educational guides, thematic dossiers, and so on), including successful practices at the local level, and complementing them with record-summaries.
The Foundation’s internet platform disseminates useful information for the work of gender equality actors, notably events, projects and documents derived from their mobilisation (meetings, conferences, training sessions, follow-up reports, and so on).
The Foundation relies on the action of RUSEMEG to enhance the visibility of the work of young researchers and graduate researchers on gender understood as a scientific discipline. RUSEMEG contributes to the institutionalisation and enrichment of gender teaching and research, in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Periodical delivery of information to the members of the Network of networks to publicise their actions and report joint initiatives developed in favour of women’s rights and their emancipation in all spheres of life.
This platform is part of the Axis 1 "Strengthening the capacities of equality actors" of the Priority Solidarity Fund "Women for the future in the Mediterranean" funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and led by the European Institute of the Mediterranean, in the framework of the project “Developing Women's Empowerment” labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean.
Founding Members