Social Protection for Women in the MENA Region

Context

Many women in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have no or insufficient access to social protection systems. This means that they are not protected against risks such as illness, unemployment, accidents or poverty in old age. One of the reasons for this is that women are more likely than men to work in precarious informal employment, earn less, take on more unpaid care work and thus acquire fewer entitlements to social security benefits. Furthermore, gender-specific needs and access barriers are usually not taken into account when social security systems are planned and implemented.

Objective

Women in countries in the MENA region have better access to social protection systems.

Approach

The project operates in three fields of activity:

1. The project sensitises state actors in the region to the need for designing social protection systems in a gender-equitable manner and also contributes to shaping policy based on evidence. To this end, it analyses what requirements women have when it comes to social protection and what barriers they face when trying to access it.

2. The project promotes regional exchange between cooperating countries via ‘Innovation Labs’. Country teams, consisting of representatives from politics, the private sector, science and civil society, develop and pilot innovative solutions and advise each other, taking a peer-to-peer approach.

3. The project also provides support to intermediary organisations and enables them to educate women about their right to social protection and raise their awareness of the advantages of being part of social security systems.

Last update: March 2024