Following a busy schedule in Berlin last week drew attention to possible ways and means of closing the wide gender gap in economic, political and social arenas. Nevine El-Aref reports from the German capital After a packed two days in Berlin, Mrs Mubarak met leading female figures in German politics, economics and the media as well as attended the fifth World Women's Work Forum. At a ceremony held under the auspices of Deutsche Telekom at the Berlin Hilton, Mrs Mubarak met Rita Sussmuth, former president of the Bundestag, Marie Josee Jacobs, minister for women and family affairs in Luxemburg, Anita Shavan, minister of education and scientific researches, and some 20 female leaders. Their meeting focused on issues concerning the problems of working women and discussed how to help more women play leading roles in management, the media and politics. High on the meeting's agenda was preparation for the 16th Global Summit for Women to be held in June at the coastal Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. The Global Summit for Women is expected to call for the formation of national and regional networks, the launch of business initiatives for women, and various other means of enhancing women's role in the global economy. A trade fair -- WEXPO -- will feature products and services made and run by women. One major theme of the 2006 summit will be redefining global leadership, and alternatives to the "top-down" hierarchical leadership style usually favoured by male members of society. Lifetime achievement awards will be presented to women who have played a successful role in raising women's economic capacities. The decision to place special emphasis on business and economics stems from several factors, the most important being that women account for 40-50 per cent of the world's paid labour force, and this percentage is most likely to increase in the future as the world now moves from a manufacturing to a service-based economy. During Mrs Mubarak's meeting with female German leaders she received an award in recognition of her commitment to development and education in her country and her efforts to empower women by bridging the gender gap and promoting equality. The highlight was a speech Mrs Mubarak gave at the opening ceremony of the World Working Women's Forum (WWWF) where she focused on "Women in the Global Market: Viability, Voice and Value". In her speech, she expressed her pleasure at being in Berlin in the company of such a distinguished audience. She described the event as an opportunity especially welcomed in view of an increasingly challenging world. "As never before, we need such occasions to reach out across our diverse cultures, to share in a human legacy that is common to us all," she said. She looked forward to learning from the WWWF and its female leaders, and to sharing with them lessons from Egypt. Mrs Mubarak said she was interested in bridging gender gaps as individuals and as governments. "However, this is a broad and complex subject, and in the final analysis answers will only become available if we address the roots of these inequities," she said. "This task is best left to good research and good policy based upon a real understanding of the problems and the obstacles to gender equity." In her speech Mrs Mubarak confined herself to addressing the one aspect, the fundamental value of entrepreneurship, to women as their role expands beyond what anyone could have imagined just a few decades ago. She also pointed out that by leaps and bounds women were becoming more visible in the global marketplace, and were a factor to be reckoned with in the global economy as producers, consumers, entrepreneurs, managers, borrowers, savers and investors. In closing, Mrs Mubarak called for kick- starting a process to help businesswomen to make inroads into areas where they had a natural advantage, and in particular sectors such as the care economy. This would serve as a means to deliver essential and quality services to the community, relieve the burden of women to provide homecare services, and would represent a source of income for entrepreneurial women at large. She believes that the time has now come to ensure that women are provided with circumstances to enable them to fully contribute to development and prosperity in a world that is in great need of the resilience and ingenuity that are the hallmarks of their gender.
