UN Women Egypt
Engy Amin
Project Manager
What are the major challenges facing women in terms of equality in the workplace, and which are specific to the countries in the region/Egypt?
Women’s empowerment is about ensuring that women can realise their full potential – that they have the knowledge, tools and power to make decisions for themselves. This is only possible if women and girls are provided with the necessary education, if women’s work is valued consistently and appropriately, and if women are empowered to make and act on economic decisions independently.
Women’s empowerment is the key to poverty reduction, economic growth and the creation of healthy and safe communities. Women’s economic empowerment is recognised as an important right, a key driver of economic growth and business success, and a prerequisite for poverty reduction.
However, there are many factors that impact the active participation of women in the labor market, this includes high illiteracy rates for women (especially in rural areas), a gender wage gap in favour of men, occupational segregation (both vertical and horizontal), discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes that limit women’s access to property, assets, financial services, lack of necessary training and skills, scarcity of decent jobs for women that afford them an adequate income, social protection and labor rights.
In addition, women prefer to work in large companies because they face more sexual harassment in small and medium-sized enterprises. Women also play a dominant role in the health sector in Arab countries, performing 4.7 times more unpaid care work than men, the highest ratio of women to men in the world.
In Egypt, women spend more than 9 times as much time as men on unpaid domestic work (22.4% of their day), leaving them little time for paid employment. Consequently, the lack of health services and policies (absence of workplace care facilities, adequate parental leave, paternity leave and flexible working hours) is a major factor affecting women’s participation in the economy.
From the perspective of UN Women, and based on your observations, what are the most impressive and inspiring advances and improvements in women’s empowerment?
There are various steps in terms of laws, articles, and decrees issued by the government of Egypt to support the advancement of women. This includes: 1-Law No. 152 of 2020 promulgating the Law for the Development of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises, 2-resolution (123, 124) by FRA regarding the representation of women in companies’ boards of directors (at least 2 women or 25% women representation on corporate boards), 3-Decision No. 2659 of 2020 excluding the formation of the National Council for Wages established by Resolution No. 983 of 2003 to define its terms of reference and include its membership to the National Council for Women, 4-Financial Supervisory Authority Resolutions No. 204 and 205 of 2020 to promote gender equality in providing funding and benefiting from non-banking financial activities and the prohibition of gender-based discrimination, 5-Periodical Book No. 7 of 2021 for the Financial Supervisory Authority to issue the Ethical Charter to Prevent Sexual Harassment, Violence and Harassment Within the work environment of companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange and operating in non-banking financial activities , 6- Decisions of the Minister of Labour No. 43 and 44 of 2021 to lift restrictions imposed on women’s ability to work at night and the restrictions imposed on women’s ability to work at night imposed on working in certain industries/professions while ensuring the provision of protection and safety measures for women), 7-Minister of Finance announced the budget circular and budget statement for fiscal year 2023/2024 included provisions on gender responsive budget, planning, and government investments, 8-article 306 of the penal code was amended to include stricter provisions on violence in the private and public place, 9-a new legislation on childcare custody was endorsed that stipulates the right of “custody” to mothers no matter of their social status.
In your opinion, what are the keys/levers for advancing the issue of equality between women and men in the field of training and professional and technical integration?
In order to effectively mainstream and advance gender equality, first we need to identify gender inequalities and gender gaps in the training and professional fields; define gender equality objectives, take account of gender when planning and implementing policies, monitor progress, and evaluate programmes from a gender perspective. In addition, we should focus on building practical skills along with the theoretical knowledge, change in attitude and behaviour on gender norms and stereotypes.
In Egypt, how can civil society organisations such as the IECD help to advance the debate on these issues? What is the IECD’s added value?
The IECD has a comparative advantage through its bilateral agreement with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Education as well as its outreach to the private sector through its French arm. This has allowed IECD to access several TVET schools which started with 2 schools and then expanded to 5 schools in Cairo and Alexandria and hence, supported raising awareness of TVET students, teachers, and admin staff on gender related issues through the partnership and technical expertise of UN Women, in addition to the provision of employability skills and internships with the private sector.
The IECD should expand its reach to allow TVET students from disciplines other than the electric field access the support that IECD provides.
The IECD should also work more with the private sector to ensure that they not only provide internships to TVET students (women), but also provide decent employment opportunities.
Have you had the opportunity to visit the IECD’s partner technical centres? If so, did any of the young people you met catch your attention? What struck you most?
Through my various visits to the partner schools within the partnership with the IECD, I have met several young people (men and women) and I was impressed by the amount of openness young girls are -especially during the interactive performances in which they challenged their male peers on different controversial issues on gender norms and stereotypes. This was also clear during other social activities like sports days for change as well as the gender gamification board. I was also amazed by young women’s determination to join the labor market challenging the social norms to pursue their passion to work as electricians (their field of speciality). Based on the visits, couple of feature stories were collected and posted online at UN Women Egypt website plus producing a video featuring young women TVET electricians and their feedback on their internships and challenges in the workplace – including voices from the private sector.
What has the partnership between UN Women Egypt and the IECD brought you (in terms of the organisation, the teams, your strategy, your values, your expertise, your knowledge of the sector or the country)?
IECD in collaboration with UN Women helped achieve UN Women’s objective in reaching out to women and girls in non-traditional sectors and supporting them to acquire the skills for employability while connecting with the private sector to allow internships for women in the TVET sector.
IECD maintained work ethics and values throughout the UN Women partnership agreement.
Although IECD struggled at time with a high turnover rate and tough interim management mindset, yet, with the new team in place, things are moving back on track and smoothly. The team showed flexibility, adaptability and responsive attitude.
Finally, what motivates you throughout your career and what are your hopes and aspirations for the future in this respect?
My main motivation is feeling that I am impacting people’s lives in a positive manner. Every time, a girl is able to make use of her full potential to access the labour market and be economically safe and independent is a mission accomplished to me.
I dream of a future where Egyptian women enjoy their full rights on all fronts, enjoy safe and decent work environment, access social protection, and be recognized for their valuable contribution to the economy (be it in the paid and/or unpaid economy).