The MENA-OECD Initiative on Governance and Competitiveness for Development (OECD, 2017a) has been following these developments and supporting stakeholders in their actions to reform policy, with the MENA-OECD Governance Programme working on gender equality in public life (OECD, 2015a), and the MENA-OECD Competitiveness Programme addressing women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship (OECD, 2013a, 2014, 2015b, 2017b forthcoming). Despite great progress in reducing gender inequalities in education, women do not generally enjoy equal participation in or access to opportunities in employment, entrepreneurship and public life. Further reform is therefore essential if gender equality principles are to translate into concrete policy reform and practice on the ground. Gender gaps in adult literacy rates are gradually falling and, in many countries, they have mostly closed among the young (Figure 20.1).