EU launches programme to boost women’s employment in the MENA region

Today the European Commission announced a fresh effort to raise the share of women in the workforce across the Middle East and North Africa. Integrated into the Mediterranean Partnership, the initiative will allocate EU resources to foster training, entrepreneurial activity and new jobs for women, especially in care, green industries, and scientific and technological fields. Officials say the goal is to lift female employment by five percent by 2030.

The measure complements the EU’s wider policy to deepen cooperation with southern Mediterranean countries and to tackle drivers of irregular migration. Recent migration pressures at Ceuta have underscored the importance of creating economic opportunities in origin and transit nations. The programme also fits within the EU’s migration framework that combines border management with development assistance.