10 March 2023, New York Hon. Joana Lima (Portugal), President of the PAM Women Parliamentary Forum (PAM/WPF), is representing the Assembly at the 67th Commission on the Status of Women, organized by UN Women, taking place at the UNHQ in New York, until the 17 March.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the main global intergovernmental forum, exclusively devoted to the promotion of gender equality and the emancipation of women. Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations attend this event.
The priority theme of this session of the Commission is the “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.
The address of Hon. Joana Lima focused on the “The situation of rural women in the PAM region”. Namely, she highlighted that women are a driving force for the preservation, development and growth of rural communities in the Mediterranean region, in cultural and economic terms.
Hon. Lima also expressed her concerns on the remaining difficulties for rural women in accessing education, technologies, infrastructures and decision-making positions. In rural zones, the lack of basis services makes the gap with urban zones higher.
In conclusion, Hon. Lima called for more efforts from Member States to make the access to technologies and basis services in health and education fields better, with the purpose of promoting women empowerment while improving the productivity and sustainability of PAM rural areas.
PAM reiterated its commitment about women’s rights, pillar of PAM’s mandate and activities. İn 2021, the Assembly established the WPF in order for parliamentarians to exchange best practices and discuss measures promoting gender equality, women’s access to decision-making positions in the political field, education for girls and women’s economic empowerment. The second edition of this Forum will be held on 5-6 June, in Jordan.//