The aim of gender equality in the workplace is to achieve broadly equal opportunities and outcomes for women and men, not necessarily outcomes that are exactly the same for all. Workplace gender equality will be achieved when people are able to access and enjoy equal rewards, resources and opportunities regardless of gender. It will require workplaces to provide equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. The removal of barriers to the full and equal participation of women in the workforce. Access to all occupations and industries, including leadership roles, regardless of gender; and the elimination of discrimination on…
Author: Ola Noureldin
It will take 257 years to reach gender equality in economic participation and opportunity, according to the World Economic Forum 2020 Global Gender Gap Report. The report shows that while other metrics of gender equality have improved (education attainment and health are close to parity, for example), the economic participation and opportunity metric has regressed to 57.8%. As the world honors another International Women’s Day on March 8, women in Egypt and the MENA region continue to be significantly under-represented in leadership, facing wage inequalities and bias in recruitment, hiring and promotions. Plenty of steps can — and must —…
More than half of Cairo’s municipal waste is collected by the informal sector, which consists of 50,000 waste processors and 150,000 collectors, sorters, traders and truck drivers. Of all the municipal waste collected, 80% gets recycled, including 290,000 tons of plastic per year. Cairo’s waste collectors (zabbaleen) have gathered, sorted and recycled the city’s trash for more than 60 years. Yet, their key role in the city’s circular economy has gone unacknowledged. Today, that is changing. DORNA, a system supported by multinational corporations and the government, puts the zabbaleen’s work in the spotlight and empowers their businesses with the help…
“Egypt still needs many more beds to be added to its capacity and we need enough investments to build this.” Egypt’s healthcare industry remains attractive to both local and international investors, with many areas for development and expansion. The sector enjoys a strong workforce with a high number of doctors, specialists and nurses, as well as attractive prices from a global perspective. Even though the market is highly fragmented with most healthcare facilities in Cairo, it still represents solid investment opportunities. In January 2020, Assem El Gazzar, Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, laid the foundation stone for CapitalMED,…
Sustainability, whether a home or city, is learning how to efficiently manage what we have in a way that suits the people living, be it in a home or in a city. Continuing population growth is projected to add 2.5 billion people to the world’s urban population by 2050. In fact, more than 1 million people a week are moving to urban environments and by 2050 more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. This massive urbanization presents many challenges in terms of health and wellbeing, safety and overall quality of life due to such issues as…
Private sector investments in education in Egypt are of paramount importance. Over the past decade, the country witnessed a steady increase in the appetite of private equity funds and investors to capitalize on the industry. This appeal is due to ever-increasing enrollment. In the 2016/17 school year, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics reported total K-12 enrollment at 20.6 million. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Middle East Report, at the current growth rate 2.4 million additional seats in grades 1-12 will be needed by 2022/23. To stimulate the economy and address chronic congestion in Cairo, the government announced the establishment…
Money has been made from various materials over the millennia, from leather in China during the Han Dynasty (From 202 BC to 220 AD) to shells, precious metals, cotton paper and, most recently, plastic. The materials used typically reflect the social and political climate of the era and available technologies and resources. In Egypt, money may feel a little funny in a month or so. That’s because the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will start printing plastic banknotes instead of the paper currency currently in use. On Aug. 1, the CBE released several designs under consideration for the new plastic…
Digital technologies and platforms are disrupting the way tourism operates. Is Egypt paying attention? When Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al Anani announced another royal parade is in the making to transfer the entire artefact collection of King Tutankhamun to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza, we couldn’t wait to interview two of Egypt’s top content creators in travel and tourism about effective techniques to improve digital marketing and tourism promotion. Travel marketing has never been more important. The rise of social media and influencers means the world is more on display than ever before and consumers are…
COVID-19 has forced many women — particularly mothers — out of the workforce. In honor of Mother’s Day, we caught up with Laila El Refai, MENA gender officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on how the private sector can help. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. What are the latest gender employment numbers in Egypt? Laila ElRefai: What I can tell you is that while half of the university graduates are women, only one in four women works. In contrast three of four men in Egypt work. The gap is very obvious when we put it…
Sahar Abouelmagd is proud of the years she worked for an oil and gas company, drafting financial records and budgets of billions of dollars in exploration deals. These days, she’s hiding out — mostly from her two children, ages 4 and 11. “I just actually locked my door so that nobody can come in here,” she says, from her bathroom. Constant interruptions from children are happening in households across the country. With the added complexities of managing both work-related Zoom calls and online learning for the kids, parents – especially women — are near their breaking point. According to a…