Egyptian women’s contribution to economic activity have increased in the last quarter of 2020 to 16.1%, compared to 13.4% in the third quarter, official data showed.
Within the framework of the Egyptian government’s endeavor to achieve the economic and social empowerment of women, to reach comprehensive and sustainable growth, Egyptian women assumed 25% of ministerial portfolios, in addition to 27% of the total seats in parliament.
According to government data, the value of development funds directed to support gender equality and women’s empowerment amounts to about $3.3 billion, which includes the implementation of 34 projects in various sectors such as education and health.
Egyptian women’s contribution: Gap bridging
The Ministry of International Cooperation, with the participation of the National Council for Women, and in cooperation with the World Economic Forum, launched last July the “catalyst for bridging the gender gap” program, as the first country in Africa and the Middle East region to conduct such effort.
The Ministry said the project is a model for cooperation between the public and private sectors. The project aims to support the efforts of governments and the business community towards taking substantive and effective measures to bridge gender gaps in all areas.
In the same context, the Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, considered the catalyst for bridging the gender gap, the first institutional cooperation between Egypt and the World Economic Forum.
Economic empowerment
Al-Mashat said the program reflects the state’s commitment to advancing the efforts of the economic empowerment of Egyptian women with the participation of the relevant parties. It also comes as a result of the new prospects for international partnerships concluded by the Ministry during the past year.
The Minister of International Cooperation said achieving equality in the numbers of women and men attached to the labor market would increase GDP by more than 34%.
The Egyptian government has worked on Egypt to issue a policy paper to support Egyptian women, in addition to its national strategy 2030, which is in line with the UN goals of sustainable development.
It also aims to issue new legislation in the field of protecting and caring for women, including the approval of social insurance and pension laws, the criminalization of deprivation of inheritance, the tightening of the penalty for circumcision, and the confrontation of those who evaded paying alimony.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics indicated, in data for the last quarter of 2020, that unemployment rate among females reached 16.8% of the total female in the labor force.
Meanwhile, 2 million Egyptian women receive monetary support from the Egyptian government, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity.
