Major new research on women’s economic participation and empowerment in the Indian Ocean region was welcomed at the Fourth Meeting of IORA’s Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WGWEE) on 22 July 2021. In particular:
- The WGWEE lauded the recent launch of the UN Women report Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Indian Ocean Rim: Progress and Challenges, noting its contribution to filling the data gap to profile the reality of women’s economic participation in the Indian Ocean region.
- The WGWEE welcomed UN Women’s innovative infographic to present the report findings in a clear and engaging way.
The WGWEE called on Member States and the Secretariat to disseminate these products and other outcomes of the IORA-UN Women partnership, which are available on the ‘Flagship Projects’ page on the IORA website.
The WGWEE also considered evolving work on forthcoming projects to network and provide training to women entrepreneurs in the region, including a virtual symposium to be co-hosted by Australia and the United States of America, and next steps on improving gender balance in IORA. Outcomes of the meeting will be considered by the next meeting of IORA’s Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) to be held in November 2021.
The WGWEE was co-chaired by Mauritius and Australia. The meeting was attended by 50 participants from ministries responsible for gender equality from 17 IORA Member States and the USA as a Dialogue Partners, some of whom are pictured above.
For more information on IORA’s work on Women’s Economic Empowerment see our website here, or contact hq@iora.int.
