The proper measures for changing the woman status can only take place in a safe environment ready for taking risks and adopting creation. Empowering woman must be based on conditions that can provide necessary protection for enhancing bases of reform that include laws of equality and their applications, along with special rulings to overcome cultural barriers for the fulfillment of the basic services as well as reliable safe conditions.

Egypt has started applying a national vision based on three essential principles: Equal chances, investing in humans and encouraging development based on supporting the poor and speeding up the development march.

Equal chances mean determination and perseverance on enforcing the constitutional right of every Egyptian woman to start her life as man does, regardless of her economic situation or her backgrounds. And although legislation is considered neutral to the two genders, the existing situation is not often as such; pension and taxes institutions, for instance, presume that men are basically the income-earning brackets.

In fact, woman is the breadwinner of nearly 20 percent of poor families, and we have eliminated the clear discrimination against women in a number of reforms in order to guarantee non-discrimination of law against women. However, we search for other existing forms of discrimination with the purpose of eliminating them.

Disparity in rights of the two genders limits the options before woman in many aspects of life and consequently diminishing her ability to participate in the development. The creation of job opportunities for women encourages them to realize the financial independence and increase the incomes of individuals and families.

The legislative reform can not be separated from its social and political content. Reform is a joint mission which will not achieve success unless the State empowers woman to participate in this process. The application of more reform measures must lead to the good governance as the participation of man and woman is a basic factor for the success of good governance.

The African woman, through efforts of civil society, has proved its worthiness and showed clear commitment to transfer their societies into more democratic and peaceful ones.

As for investing in humans, I hope that each girl could realize the same distinguished level of primary education and that each woman could enjoy the comprehensive medical care and that each poor woman could enjoy protection through the social solidarity or safe advantages of solidarity.

Under the market economy environment, the private sector and civil society are expected to shoulder their share in the corporate responsibility through supporting and qualifying human potentials and increasing national productivity. The main target is the unutilized energy for woman in the race towards the global competitiveness.

It is very clear that the high level of education, skills and capabilities guarantee the realization of high growth rates where female employees in Europe, United States and south eastern Asia represent 50 percent of total labor force, the matter which led to accelerate the growth rate and participate by nearly 40 percent of GDP.

In Africa, the application of policies of equality between the two genders is in progress where many governments have shown their commitment to this issue through creating the atmosphere and mechanisms for an active participation of women in their structures. However, women in many African countries can not own lands, obtain financial and information resources or manage properties and business solely.

In spite of the great improvement in many sectors such as health and education, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) still represents a big problem where women represent 60 percent of patients in sub-Saharan Africa. Violence against women increased in the areas of conflict. Women are struggling to overcome many challenges which prevent them to receive better education and participate in the political field.

All experiments confirm that woman is the corner stone of change which may pave the road for equality and facilitate the adoption of necessary measures for supporting independence of thinking as a precondition for the success of democratic reform.

As for the third principle represented in using a developmental model "supporting for poor", the realization of equality between the two genders in Africa can not be separated from its social atmosphere. Any effective strategy aims at achieving equality between the two genders must solve the main problems of discrimination and put a national plan with specific budget targeting needs of poor women.

Why the poor? Poor are those who shoulder the improper burdens due to non-equality between the two genders. Two thirds of poor people in the region live in rural areas and refuse to employ women in the jobs with salaries so that the only outlet for them is to work in unpaid jobs. Priority is always given to men to provide opportunities for education and health services.

Accordingly, wrong medical practices and burdens of illiteracy are spread among their children especially girls. These social brackets represent the big problem before efforts of development.

Rate of women unemployment in the region reaches the double of men unemployment rate although women participate by 30 percent in the labor market. Education is very important for women as the recent access of women in the Egyptian labor market witnesses an upward trend due to the increase in number of educated women who passed the secondary or university stages.

Our vision is the participation of women in all aspects of reform. Women must be encouraged to continue their national participation on the level of district, village and city.

Women are the most victims of health and economic shocks or because of violence and troubles. These fields are in a dire need of networks of safety and financial and administrative support. The absence of said networks prevent women to develop their capabilities or participate in the decision making process which affects them directly.

All African countries are committed to the Millennium declaration which determined the numbers and times of implementing the Millennium Eight Goals. Most of our countries face the big gap between the two genders which in return affects the achievement of other goals, namely; minimization of poverty and illiteracy, health and environment. Woman is a direct partner in these fields and success in bridging the gap between the two genders will result in immediate gains on all levels.

There are many tools for facing the non-equality in our region as we need to pursue our efforts in order to provide more culture, institutions and incentives for women with the purpose of expanding their active participation on the political, social and economic levels. The joint action of civil society must be intensified to reach the best practices in all fields.