In 2025 and beyond, AIWF reaffirms our commitment together with our partners to working for a future where every woman in the Middle East and Mediterranean can thrive, shape and lead a more just and prosperous society for all.
Today, on International Women’s Day 2025, the Arab International Women’s Forum (AIWF) celebrates the resilience, achievements and remarkable progress made by and for women across the Middle East, North Africa and Mediterranean regions.
This year’s IWD theme of ‘Accelerating Action’ and the UN’s theme of ‘For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment’ spotlight the urgency of moving beyond empty pledges and rhetoric towards concrete, measurable progress in achieving gender equality. Significant strides have been made in advancing women’s rights globally, but persistent structural barriers, discriminatory policies and outdated social norms continue to hinder full gender parity in the MENA region and in all regions of the world.
AIWF has long held the view that in the face of global challenges—including economic and public health crises, climate change and rapid technological shifts—women’s inclusion is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity for sustainable development. Women’s economic empowerment is a fundamental right at the heart of sustainable development, social stability and regional prosperity. We know that when women are educated and economically empowered, they are more likely to invest their talents and resources into entrepreneurship, healthcare, education and the wellbeing of their families, creating a ripple effect that strengthens societies and fuels long-term regional prosperity.
Since 2001, the Arab International Women’s Forum has been steadfastly committed to advancing women’s economic inclusion, youth empowerment and sustainability in the MENA region. More recently, AIWF has become an active voice in working at the highest levels of STEM and climate change advocacy in the region. Since our inception, we have recognised and continually championed the economic benefits and social progress derived from increasing women’s participation in the labour force and as entrepreneurs and innovators. Arab women, still underrepresented in the MENA economy, possess a wealth of untapped potential. Together with our Global Corporate Partners, PepsiCo, Pfizer and PwC, AIWF has successfully launched numerous confidence- and capacity-building workshops, events, conferences and networking initiatives to unpack and nurture that potential, providing mentorship, connectivity and new business links between women in the MENA and their counterparts in the international community. Most recently, the AIWF Conference held at the Royal Academy of Engineering in May 2023, ‘On the Road to COP28’ produced a dynamic set of recommendations for empowering women’s leadership in climate, sustainability and STEM which was duly presented to the COP28 leadership in Dubai later that year, evidencing AIWF’s ability to engage and advocate at the very highest levels.
AIWF’s ongoing mission to bring women leaders together in all sectors and spheres is consistent with our long-held belief that female economic empowerment is both a fundamental right and a driver of diverse, resilient and sustainable economies. We also believe that the future of any region lies in its youth. Recognising this, our interventions have focused on facilitating the integration of young people into the formal economic structure. Our flagship programme with PwC Middle East, Young Arab Women Leaders, was launched in 2011 as a series of ten major conferences across the Arab world in the decade that followed, and has equipped over 2,200 aspiring young female professionals in the region with the confidence, tools and opportunities to transition from being passive job-seekers to dynamic job creators, contributing to economic growth and stability in the MENA region. This programme speaks to the AIWF vision of cultivating a well-trained, innovative, and economically active younger generation, which we have amplified in recent years through our collaborations in the UAE with the Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER), a global platform led by Masdar that champions women as leaders of sustainable change, and the startAD network hosted by NYUAD.
Understanding the imminent global challenge posed by climate change, we have championed the cause of sustainability education and innovation, working with global and regional partners from the World Bank, UN Women, ESCWA, the FAO and the ILO to the League of Arab States, the UN Global Compact, and the UAE’s WiSER and Tamkeen / startAD platforms. Our collaborations with higher education institutions in the US, US, Europe, the MENA and South Asia emphasise the importance of aligning human progress with sustainability education. This commitment arises from our core strategy of promoting education that prepares the youth of the MENA region, including and especially young women and refugees, for a future world of work where sustainable practices are paramount and sustainability education is the norm rather than the exception.
With just 5 years to go until the 2030 watershed for the achievement of the SDGs, this is a time for bold policies, targeted investments and multistakeholder interventions that could well drive systemic change at an unprecedented pace in the region. It is also a time for reflection, as in 2025 we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark document that remains the most progressive and widely endorsed blueprint for advancing the rights of women and girls worldwide. Adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, the Beijing Platform for Action established a comprehensive agenda for gender equality, laying out strategic objectives and concrete measures across 12 critical areas, including education, economic participation, political representation, health and violence against women. Over the past three decades, this visionary framework has transformed the global women’s rights agenda and solidified the principle that women’s rights are human rights, spurring governments, civil society and international organisations to commit to policies that promote equal opportunities in education, employment, and leadership. It has also played a crucial role in enhancing youth engagement and empowering young women and girls to become active agents of change, which has informed much of AIWF’s advocacy and action over the two and a half decades since our inception.
In the same year as the Beijing Declaration, the Barcelona Process was launched to formalise regional cooperation between Europe and the Southern / Eastern Mediterranean countries, focusing on key areas such as political stability, economic development and cultural exchange. While gender equality was not explicitly the core objective of the Barcelona Process at its inception, its commitment to social and human development gradually incorporated a strong focus on women’s economic inclusion, social participation and empowerment. At its core, the Process emphasised inclusive growth, recognising that the empowerment of women is central to building a peaceful, prosperous and stable region. Over the years, initiatives born from the Barcelona Process, including those led by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) – a longstanding institutional partner of AIWF – have sought to break barriers to women’s economic participation, to promote equal opportunities and create inclusive, enabling environments for women in entrepreneurship, in society and in policy / public service.
The Barcelona Process was an ambitious project launched to encourage cooperation between Mediterranean countries including the Arab states and the European Union, and it was a process that AIWF was especially proud to be a part of in 2005 under the leadership of Haifa Al Kaylani OBE, AIWF Founder and Chairman for 20 years and currently its President. Around the 10th Anniversary of the Barcelona Process, AIWF held two key conferences examining how women contribute to sustained economic growth, the first being Women as Engines of Economic Growth in Brussels at the European Parliament followed in June 2005 with a second high-level conference, Ten Years after Barcelona: Women and Integrated Rural Development, held with the valued cooperation of the League of Arab States and the support of the European Parliament, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the World Bank to mark the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona Process. The conferences resulted in high-level reports that was first published at a special reception hosted at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London and then presented in November that year at a Ministerial meeting in Barcelona to formally mark the 10th Anniversary of the Barcelona Process.
Since then, we have seen first hand the monumental progress made for and by women in the MENA Region – the visibility of Arab women in leadership positions across all sectors and spheres is testament to that. Yet, we know that challenges remain and that women across the region continue to face systemic barriers to full and meaningful economic and political inclusion. AIWF stands ready and willing to work closely with our governmental, private sector and institutional partners in the process of transforming economic and social opportunities for women in the region, and we will continue to steer and support action-oriented initiatives for change.
AIWF expresses our gratitude to our partners, stakeholders, and all who have joined us in this journey. Importantly, we pay tribute to the millions of women around the world who do such important work, both at grassroots level and on the world stage, to accelerate much-needed action and advance the shared vision for a future working world characterised by empowered women, an engaged youth, and sustainable, innovative solutions for pressing global challenges.
Happy #IWD2025! #acceleratingaction #barcelonaprocess30 #aiwfinaction
