A virtual meeting has been conducted between the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW), the World Bank, the civil society, and academic institutions to address the Women’s Empowerment Program in the middle east. The program is supported by the World Bank and funded by the Canadian and Norwegian governments.
The meeting dealt with ways to enhance women’s economic opportunities in order to avoid the increasing decline of their participation in economy, which was less than 25%.
The first phase of the program included developing legislations and measures regulating the work environment to eliminate prejudice against women and motivate them to benefit from their economic skills.
In this regard, the commission stated that its cooperation with official, civil, and academic bodies resulted in the adoption of a law criminalizing sexual harassment.
The commission added that, in cooperation with the Arab Women’s Institute at the Lebanese-American University, a text will be drafted to reform the labour law to have equality between the sexes. The latter will be presented for a discussion in the Parliament.
The National Coordinator of the Women Empowerment Program in the Middle East delivered a presentation of the second phase of the program’s action plan, including work to remove legal obstacles that restrict women’s participation in the workforce, facilitate women’s access to childcare facilities, increase the capacity of institutions to hire women, and develop entrepreneurial skills.
#Lebanon #Women #Empowerment #Middle_East
English 
العربية