Giving birth to children and bringing them up are the ultimate female prerogatives. It is as mothers that woman generally have power.

Societies have developed many rituals, practices and symbols for having children and keeping them healthy. In addition to these age-old practices that are still alive and well in the Mediterranean, there are now new scientific methods such assisted reproductive technology.

Demographic transition

During the last thirty years, the average fertility rate of all the countries of the south of the Mediterranean basin has dropped from 5 to 6 children per woman to 2 children per woman (maximum 3 for Egypt): rates that are close to those of the southern European countries. This situation is the result of birth regulation policies, better education for women and the significant increase in the age of the first marriage. The feminist struggles for the liberalisation of modern contraception (pill or coil) or the legalisation of abortion, obtained during the 1970s or 1980s, have contributed to this process.

Virginity

The increase in the age of marriage and the liberalisation of contraception has brought about a profound change in perceptions of sexuality. In southern Europe, hen nights have become common practice since the 1980s; they demonstrate the society's acceptance of a greater sexual freedom for women. Then again, preserving one's virginity for the wedding remains an important value even if, in major towns, an increasing number of couples live together before being married.

The Gay Pride demonstrations bear witness to the struggle of gender minorities to gain recognition for their sexual freedom and to obtain the same rights as heterosexuals.

These demonstrations began in the countries of western Europe Mediterranean in the 1980s and expanded after 2000 into most of the major towns of the eastern Mediterranean as far as Istanbul, Tel-Aviv or Beirut, giving rise to violent homophobic reactions.

On the southern shoreline of the Mediterranean, gay and lesbian demands are beginning to be expressed through associations, newspapers and websites.

Antar and Ebla, Snow White… just some of the sentimental novels, fairy tales, soap operas and movies that continue to convey the myth of the soul mate and the true love. However in the Mediterranean, the rule of homogamy (marriage between people of the same social group, community or even family) often prevents these universal aspirations.

Currently however, a greater sexual freedom and the development of communications systems, such as the internet, is transforming the way in which a partner is chosen, and modifying the rules that govern how people meet up and behave romantically

Sport

Sport, through perceptions of the body and physical appearance, the appetite for competition and performance, often reveal not only physical distinctions, but cultural ones as well, between men and women. Some disciplines deemed as male are still not easily accessible for women.
Recent debates, for example, on the wearing of veils in competitions, have examined the political stakes of allowing women to join in domains that have been largely created by and for men.

Learning process

What better than a toy catalogue to understand the formation of gender standards? Blue for boys and pink for girls. War and technical elements on the one hand, beauty and domestic tasks on the other.
The toy world illustrates the enduring opposition to modern transformations. Although women still predominantly carry out domestic tasks, the admission of women to university and the vastly larger number of women in the workplace is transforming the way people think on both sides of the Mediterranean.

Feminism

In the Mediterranean, the struggle for equality between men and women goes back to the first feminist movements of the end of the 19^th century. Nevertheless, we had to wait until the first half of the 20^th century to see the women of the Mediterranean region getting the vote. In the 21^st century, the continuing discrimination and violent acts committed against women in the family or in public spaces, bear witness to the on-going struggle for equality between the sexes.

In Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Iran, like in most countries of the European Union, approaches such as hormone therapy, surgical operations and changes in civil status are authorised for trans-gender or trans-sexual people. This change demonstrates the needs of individuals to emancipate themselves from the social restrictions of gender, and allow a more widespread acceptance of changes in conventions, fashions and customs relating to the body.

Veil

Whatever their culture or religion, Mediterranean women concealed their hair under a veil or a scarf for many generations.
Currently, an increasing number of Muslim women are wearing it, but in many cases for very different reasons: modesty, cultural or religious traditions, social pressure, affirmation of identity…
Wearing a veil is still a significant social and political issue: it can be opposed as a symptom of a return to a patriarchal order, a right that is perfectly compatible with the emancipation of women or even something that is imposed as a condition for appearing in public spaces.