Achieving MDG 1 in the Arab Region: Gender Equality and Role of the Families

Type Journal Article - DIFI Family Research and Proceedings
Title Achieving MDG 1 in the Arab Region: Gender Equality and Role of the Families
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2013
Page numbers 1-11
URL http://www.qscience.com/doi/pdfplus/10.5339/difi.2013.arabfamily.5
Abstract
The family has always been the center of social life in the Arab region. (2) It is the core of society and is held in great esteem among young and old alike. In Arab countries, the family is the main social security system for the elderly, sick or disabled, and the economic refuge for the unemployed. Parents are responsible for children until they marry or become economically independent. Children reciprocate by assuming responsibility for the care of their parents as they grow older. Therefore, the health and wellbeing of newly formed families are crucial to the health and wellbeing of Arab societies at large not only today, but also well into the future. The Arab region has made significant strides over the past few decades in improving the health, education, and standard of living of its people, but the gains have been uneven among countries and among population groups within countries. In Egypt and in Iraq, at least one in four people lives in poverty; in Yemen, this ratio is one in three; and almost one in two in Sudan and South Sudan (see Table 1). A key strategy to reduce poverty and improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and families is to make a collective effort to uphold girls’ human rights and end the harmful practice of child marriage in the Arab region, where one in seven girls marries before her 18th birthday, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

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