Dear friends,

We are full of emotion. Our hearts are rejoicing and vibrating in unison with those women and men who are breathing immense hope into the shores of the Mediterranean. Women and men united in their determination and courage to obtain the right to exist and enjoy fundamental liberties: the liberty to organize, the right to express an opinion, to choose one’s representatives, to choose one’s own destiny.
While our hopes are high, we nevertheless know that the day after the revolutions, there will be no rush of people seeking to declare that equality between men and women is an inalienable principle of all democratic societies.
While women are accepted at men’s sides during the throes of these revolutions, women know that they risk being pushed aside at crucial moments of decision making. Yet these decisions nevertheless will seal their fates and that of their countries.
Today, windows of opportunity exist and women can organize themselves or start to do so. They want to have a say in the changes that are taking place in their countries. The Mediterranean Women’s Fund is committed to supporting their initiatives, as well as those of men and women seeking to build a society founded on real equality between men and women.

Democracy should be constructed with women, certainly not against them or without them. This is our conviction.