Women MPs in Mauritania have created an action plan to push forward work on gender equality. It followed training in Nouakchott on strategic planning on the work of the women’s caucus in parliament involving about 40 female MPs, civil society organizations and government officials. Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Mohamed Ghoulam Ould Hadj Cheikh addressed the opening and closing sessions with male MPs joining the occasion. The workshop, jointly organized by the parliamentary women’s group REFPAM, IPU and the National Assembly, included training on frameworks for protecting women’s rights. There were also open discussions, and women MPs from Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire shared their experiences of promoting gender equality reforms in parliament and running caucuses of female MPs. IPU support for this activity was funded by the UAE Federal National Council.
The workshop led to a fully-fledged strategic plan for 2016-2018 with three main focuses: strengthening REFPAM and its members; ensuring parliament delivers on gender equality through studies, proposed laws and awareness-raising workshops; and building alliances and reaching out to civil society and other relevant groups. IPU will continue working with REFPAM to ensure the plan is implemented. Priority areas for 2016 include promoting new laws to combat violence against women and girls, and strengthening female MPs through study visits, training activities and other projects. IPU promotes the creation and strengthening of women’s caucuses in parliaments to help female MPs increase their political impact by sharing common goals beyond party lines.
