The Algeria’s women empowermentpolicy proves to be a leadingexperience in the region and beyond. Thanksto the reforms engaged by H.E.M AbdelazizBouteflika, President of the Republic, Algeria made a huge progress in the field of promoting women rights and gender equality.
The Algerian government always proudly reiterates its commitment to empowering women and promoting its status in the society. The Algerian Constitution and otherlegal fundamental texts consider women and men as equal and guarantee equality of access not only to education, healthcare and other traditional means of empowerment, but also to political and professional positions.
Regarding this key aspect, which constitutes a real indicator to gauge the place of women in society, Algeria guaranteed, through a policy of quotas,a high representation of women in Government and in elected assemblies.
At the international level, Algeria signed the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1996 and fully implemented the objectives of Beijing Action Plan (1994-2015), which covers 12 goals pertaining to poverty, education, training, health, violence against women, their role in decision makingand protection during armed conflicts.
On the social dimension, the Government has recently instituted a fund to support divorced women who have children to protect them against all forms of violence and to safeguard the interest of the child. In the same way, a battery ofmeasures has been implemented with the objective to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including in public places.
As for the outcomes, Women account impressively for about 30 % of the parliamentary seats given that the global average is only 20%, representing the highest ratio in the Arab world and the African Continent. Furthermore, they occupy five ministries in the current Governmental team.
On the field ofeducation, the proportion of girls among the total population of college students amounts to 60 % and the number of girls enrolled in secondary school is over 50%.
Concerning the representation of women on the workplace, theyrepresent the majority of the employees of professions such as journalism, medical services and healthcare, teaching, etc. This trend is touching more and more professions.
The improved place of the Algerian women, evidenced by these figures, will certainly have an added value on the efficiency of the effort being spent by Algeria towards development and economic and social progress.
