The UfM launched the first-ever Intergovernmental Monitoring Mechanism on Gender Equality in one of the Senior Official Meetings of the UfM Member States in 2020. This ongoing reporting exercise allows measuring and reporting of the progress made on women’s rights and provide policy recommendations to close the gender gap in the region. The first exercise was conducted during the Covid pandemic and was published in March 2022 showing the impact this crisis had on women. 

• Within the Euro-Mediterranean region, gender parity in Western Europe is estimated at 76.7% (54 years to achieve gender parity) and in MENA region at 61.2% (140 years), according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020.

• Achieving gender equality for the current generation of working-age women in MENA could add as much as USD 3.1 trillion to regional wealth, according to the World Bank.

Member States agreed to establish a follow-up mechanism backed up with indicators to monitor progress, evaluate the gender gap and provide data for scientific-based policy recommendations to decision-makers, in order to monitor women’s quality of life and role in society. This supports the implementation of gender-related Sustainable Development Goals to ultimately tap into the full potential of women in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The lack of gender-specific data can hide a lot of inequalities: the progress report will allow monitoring of the progress achieved at country level in terms of gender equality, and at the same time the formulation of concrete recommendations to build gender-based policies at country and regional level.

After extensive consultation with Member States, a set of 20 indicators across 4 priority areas were agreed.

6 of these indicators were selected for the first initial assessment, based as much as possible on the availability of a minimum of data and statistics, generally through the existence of global databases: UN Women, World Bank, ILO Stats, EIGE Stats, OECD Gender Stats, Eurostats, MEDSTAT, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the global Database Doing Business, Global database on violence against women (UN Women) and national surveys and statistics.