Introduction: the Mediterranean mosaic

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss women's contribution to interfaith dialogue in the Mediterranean area. The Mediterranean region – usually depicted as both a uniform region and a highly problematic area, where conflicts and migration flows pose considerable risks to the security of the entire region – is a challenge to policy makers and institutions. This can be explained by a combination of causes discussed in this chapter.

Even if access to a common sea has led to numerous historical and cultural connections between ancient and contemporary societies around the Mediterranean (we speak of a ‘historical region’, engaging in trade and sharing in common historical experiences (Giordano, 2012)), the Mediterranean is not a single society. Instead it is a multipolar world; the Mediterranean basin offers a mosaic of societies and cultures that have influenced (and are still influencing) one another (see, for example, Davis, 1977). Today, the Mediterranean region includes millions of people from a number of different cultures who are living in more than 20 different nations (some of which originated very recently) on three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe. The Mediterranean area is thus a complex system.

The Mediterranean area is subject to considerable uncertainties on its future. On the one hand, population growth, combined with the growth of coastal urban centres and the development of tourism, often concentrated in Mediterranean coastal areas, generates multiple environmental pressures (European Environment Agency, 2015). The total population of the Mediterranean countries (with coastlines along the Mediterranean sea) grew from 276 million in 1970 to 412 million in 2000 (a 1.35% increase per year) and to 466 million in 2010. The population is predicted to reach 529 million by 2025 (GRID-Arendal, 2013). On the other hand, Mediterranean countries face a long-standing economic, political and social crisis. The region has remarkable dissymmetry in demographic trends as well as in its economic and political development. Even if the area has an abundant concentration of natural resources, Mediterranean economies do not create enough jobs (Jolly, 2011), and the global economic crisis has resulted in high unemployment, particularly for young people and women. Other key challenges the region is facing are conflicts in the Middle East, terrorist threats and unresolved humanitarian and refugee crises. The Mediterranean is located at the heart of a main migration route.