Main Events / Project External Events

“Women Status in the Mediterranean: their Rights and Sustainable Development” was the central topic of the international meeting held at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (MAI-B) from 16 to 17 June 2008.

In the Mediterranean basin the gender dimension has been entering the programmes and projects of international cooperation with even greater priority. Yet, a deeper analysis of the issue has pointed out the gap between the good political purposes and their fulfilment in concrete actions. In the Mediterranean Countries it is still necessary to work more strongly in order to abolish, as much as possible, the existing gender problems so to reach a real social integration. A well balanced, organic and true development policy, offering social, scientific and cultural programmes, must necessarily deal with the gender integration issues in the hope of achieving some more sound results.

In this regard, about a hundred of participants  from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Lebanon, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey shared their experiences in the field of women’s rights to work and training, socio-economic differences, and women and rural development. Objective of the event was to improve the institutional dialogue and promote synergies in the field of “gender empowerment” in the different scientific and cultural sectors. Furthermore, the event represented a very good occasion to gather and share information in order to encourage the creation or the extension of partnerships and suggest the start-up of new specific projects of cooperation.

The meeting was organized by the Community of Mediterranean Universities (CMU), the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (MAI-B) the Equal Opportunities Commission of Bari University and the GEWAMED Project, and was sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Apulia Regional Government and the Province of Bari.

During the opening session participants were welcomed to the meeting by Mr Cosimo Lacirignola, Director of MAI-B, Prof. Luigi Ambrosi, President of CMU, Prof. Giuliana Trisorio Liuzzi, Vice President of CIHEAM, Ms Silvia Godelli from Apulia Region, and Prof. Cecilia Saccone, “Ambassador” of the EU-funded Set Routes Programme.
Then the meeting was chaired by Ms Luisa Santelli Beccegato from the Equal Opportunities Commission of the University of Bari who gave an overview of the three main issues to be discussed and introduced the speakers. The speakers were divided into three groups on the basis of the three selected topics to be discussed. Ms Ersilia Grazia Spatafora, Professor of International Law at the University “Roma Tre” in Rome, and Mr Mohamed Knidiri, Professor at the University Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech, were part of the first group and presented their experiences in the field of women’s rights in their respective countries. The second group, composed of Ms Virginia Ferreira, sociologist of Coimbra University in Portugal, and Ms Gülsung Saglamer, Vice President of Istanbul Technical University in Turkey, focused on the socio-economic condition of women in Portugal, Western Europe and Turkey. Women and rural development was the subject of the third and last series of presentations made by Ms Veronica Navarra, President of ONILFA, partner of the GEWAMED Project, and by Ms Rosanna Quagliariello, Responsible for External Relations of CIHEAM-MAIB.

The second day was opened by Prof. Atef Hamdy and the programme included Working Groups and discussion about experiences, problems and projects related to the main topics of the event. Mr Juan Antonio Sagardoy, GEWAMED Project Manager, participated as rapporteur in the second group chaired by Ms Veronica Navarra and centred on women and rural development.. Discussion among the participants was very interactive producing many useful recommendations and suggestions with the main aim of creating a strong network in that specific field.

At the end of the working groups there was a general and summarizing discussion chaired by Prof. Atef Hamdy. In particular, the rapporteurs presented the main conclusions and recommendations prepared by each group.
The closing remarks were made by Ms Luisa Santelli Beccegato, Prof. Luigi Ambrosi, and Prof. Giuliana Trisorio Liuzzi, whose paintings were exhibited on that specific occasion dedicated to women.