The International Conference Women in the New Season of the Mediterranean, held on the 7th and 8th May 2015 in the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia was planned and produced by the then Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Italia e Mediterraneo. During this two-day conference, prominent women who represent the civil society, the economy and culture in Mediterranean countries met and discussed women’s current and future role in the evolution of Mediterranean societies.

The topic was addressed by entrepreneurs, economists, women’s rights activists, university professors and artists representing thirteen Mediterranean countries: Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Algeria and Morocco, the organising country Italy and the host country Spain.

In particular, speakers addressed the major challenge underlined by the conference: the way women affect and how they may continue to influence the transformations, directing them towards effective reforms, recognition of equal rights and opportunities in the fields of politics, the economy and culture.

The Conference was divided into three sessions, hinged on three aspects. SESSION I: WOMEN AND THE ECONOMY Women’s new role in the economy and the development of Mediterranean countries. SESSION II: WOMEN AND CIVIL SOCIETY The evolution of civil society and women’s role in fostering and influencing internal transformation processes, also via blogs and social networks. SESSION III: WOMEN AND CULTURE. The role played by women in changing cultures as well as art and culture as a channel through which women may express their opinion on the transformation of Mediterranean societies.

Professor Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele, chairman of Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Italia e Mediterraneo comments, “I Have taken this conference to heart, since I believe that women were the real protagonists of the period known as the Arab Spring, which certainly had many positive aspects: a great intellectual and social uprising that aimed to establish democracy in Maghreb countries. This expectation has in several cases been disappointed and we see that many of the protagonists are not attending the conference today because they are victims or martyrs of the blind and absurd rage of integralism.