Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nadia Touhami, Takes part in Regional Meeting of Parliamentarians of Arab States on Accelerating Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Arab Region

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nadia Touhami, took part on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, via videoconference, in the Regional Meeting of the Parliamentarians of Arab States, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in partnership with the ESCWA, UN Women, and the International Labour Organization.

The meeting focused on examining the role of parliamentarians in accelerating women’s economic empowerment in the Arab region by shedding light on the complementarity between sustainable development goals and the importance of measures that aim to empower women economically to achieve all the sustainable development goals.

During the meeting, Rep. Nadia Touhami made a statement where she highlighted the Moroccan experience in gender equality and the economic empowerment of Moroccan women. In this respect, she underscored the significant gains and achievements made by the Kingdom of Morocco with regard to empowering women, entrenching their position, and achieving equality through consecrating the principles of equality and equal opportunities as constitutional values.

Besides, Rep. Nadia Touhami noted that the legal framework in the Kingdom of Morocco provides for an adequate platform to consolidate gender equality through the provisions of the 2011 Constitution that stipulate the principle of equality of rights between the two genders, including the civic, political, social, cultural, and environmental rights.

Regarding consolidating the principle of parity, Rep. Nadia Touhami stressed the importance of creating the Authority for Parity and Fight against All Forms of Discrimination through the adoption of Law 79.14 related to this Authority. She also mentioned adopting a Government Bill ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Besides, she also noted the keenness of the Moroccan legislator to reinforce the presence of women in elected bodies by enacting provisions in the organic laws regulating elections to increase women's representation in elected bodies.

Regarding women’s economic empowerment, Rep. Nadia Touhami underlined the keen efforts deployed by the Kingdom of Morocco in this area through launching several plans and programs that aim to reinforce the legal, economic, and institutional empowerment of women, as well as the various measures taken by the Kingdom to consolidate the gender approach in the different sectoral strategies it adopts, which has enabled Moroccan women to achieve gains in terms of rights, economy, and social status; improvements that were the subject of broad international praise.

Rep. Nadia Touhami concluded her statement by presenting a series of recommendations through which she stressed the importance of joining efforts and investing all resources to achieve the aspired goal. She also underscored the imperative of recalling the principle of equality and consolidating the role of women in drafting laws and elaborating programs and public policies with a view to empowering them. The Representative also noted that the diversity in the social reality and collective thinking of every population remains a challenge that hinders the implementation of these visions in various world countries.

The Deputy Speaker of the House also called for sharing experiences and constant communication between the world’s governments and parliaments for further efficiency in achieving the ultimate goal.