for example pressure to participate in early marriage or forced marriage is often endorsed by female heads of households who are often single mothers as a way to uphold traditional values this practice can be an important factor in restricting women s chances for completing a high level of education and developing professional skills in the labour market over the last few decades the mena region has witnessed a series of demographic and cultural changes that have levelled a substantive impact on the progress of women in the region a mixture of high fertility rates with a decreasing mortality rate have resulted in an increase in the population aged