The Arab region shows a gap in achieving gender justice. It is a determining fact that women in the Arab region still face discrimination and injustices de jure and de facto. Gender injustice is still experienced as a process and as an outcome. Women have limited access and control over resources and decent living conditions, and face institutional biasness that hamper the realization of their full citizenship and the full enjoyment of their rights. Arab countries do not take the necessary measures to translate their international obligations into non-discriminatory national legal frameworks. And, even when legislative frameworks are protective, they are not effectively implemented.

In this context, UN- ESCWA has prepared a study on “The State of Gender Justice in the Arab Region: Challenges and Opportunities”. As such, the study examines the existence of enabling institutional mechanisms that allow individual victims of gender based discrimination to seek constitutional and institutional guarantees and redress, such as Constitutional Court, Administrative court, Labour Court, Ombudsman, and National Human Rights Institutions. It focuses on gender based discrimination in political, economic and social fields, drawing on enacted legislations and the translation of these to policies, institutions and measures. It addresses the institutional gaps in the process of achieving Gender Justice in the region. The study advances policy recommendations with the aim of addressing challenges faced by Arab women in achieving justice.
 
In this connection, an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) will be organized to discuss and assess the key findings of the study and to examine policy recommendations directed to various stakeholders. The EGM will serve as an interactive forum to provide constructive and substantive comments on the draft study.