Within the MENA region, there are a variety of means in which change could be created in order to benefit the empowerment of women and girls, and provide them with support to thrive and relieve burdens. Empowerment is an evolving concept, and therefore the solutions require an understanding of how current affairs and politics have influenced the power of women. After the Arab Spring, women’s empowerment was altered as women were brought into the public sphere and overcoming cultural boundaries through demonstrations and protests (Moghadam, 2016).  This signifies the importance of women’s active participation within politics, not only creating change through fighting for rights, dignity and social justice but also in placing the image of women as central to these movements. Whilst Arab countries have taken steps towards improving empowerment since, this change requires comprehensive reform based around overcoming the structural challenges affecting women, rather than implementing a purely hegemonic Western feminist agenda. Overall, this demonstrates the need for change to consider how women’s empowerment can be developed outside of a focus purely on economic growth.

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Realizing the goal of women’s empowerment by continuing to advocate and create strategies to help tackle these issues, will not only help to achieve international goals, but will also have interlinked consequences on the participation of women at national, regional and global levels. Therefore it is important for governments to take an active role in the MENA region, through empowering all women and girls without leaving anyone behind (UNICEF, 2018). This can be done through specific initiatives to tackle these challenges, namely to boost support networks within active political and economic participation, and to provide spaces to access resources and overcome pressures. Governments in the MENA also need to play an active role through taking accountability of their initiatives, by acknowledging the positionality of decision-makers and the current contextual framework of women’s empowerment issues, and this can then build strategies which connect with their citizens. This can be done through an increased awareness of current rushing to meet targets, being open and flexible to changes and new challenges, and by including all citizens within conversations around change.