2013 Arab MDGs report underscores general poor Arab performance and women's limited participation

The 4th Arab MDGs report for 2013 entitled “Facing challenges and Post 2015 Development Agenda”, notes that the gains made at the level of reducing poverty in some Arab countries have been reversed as a result of political transformations in the region as well as continued conflicts which have exacerbated the vicious circle of poverty, unemployment and hunger.  The report notes that the Arab region lags behind in achieving the MDGs by 9.6% whilst clarifying that advances in the achievement of the MDGs was not even amongst countries of the region or even within individual countries.
The report emphasizes the rise in unemployment rate with the region scoring the lowest participation in labor force worldwide essentially as a result of the poor participation of women (26% in the Arab world against a world average of 51% for 2010).  Poverty, slow advances in rural development, the exacerbation of armed conflicts, discrimination in the law as well as the widespread conservative traditions such as early marriage are all factors that have blocked women's participation in the public sphere and namely in the job market.  The region has nevertheless been able to make headways in bridging the gender gap in education although women's representation in parliaments remains way below the rest of the world.
To be noted that this report includes an evaluation of achievements made across the Arab region and also addresses progress in implementation made since the adoption of the MDGs in 1990 and until the year where the most recent statistics are available, it also includes a vision for drafting post-2015 development plans that are to be adopted by Arab governments.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 24 September 2013