As the world enters a new era after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic is still upsetting our daily lives. And as 75% of EU citizens live in urban areas, cities are the most prominent stage both for responding to the health crisis, and for seizing opportunities to recover and move forward. In 2020, EU countries agreed to Next Generation EU, a €750 billion recovery package that represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
As inclusiveness is now a major economic issue on the global economic agenda, the Italian presidency has brought gender to the forum and has nudged the G7 to include it into its discussion on many areas – from higher participation to the labour market, to measures to end violence against women – and so to play a part in the action towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Three years have passed since the 2011 “Tahrir” Revolution in Egypt. In that occasion we saw the Egyptian women side by side with men calling for democracy and freedom, and the world had the impression that – along with a new season for political rights and democratization for all Egyptians - also a new era for women rights had began in Egypt.
Gender parity in employment: a success yet to come. Despite many advancements on gender inequality, gender parity in employment is yet out of reach. Women employment is constrained by two kinds of barriers: those at the entry in the labour market and those when progressing through it.