Increasing female labor force participation

Creating an enabling environment to incentivize girls’ retention in education

Further, the COvID-19 pandemic may have wider implications for continuity of learning for girls than boys as a result of MOETE’s strategy of promoting distance learning and transitioning to blended learning. Initial analysis of the impacts of the pandemic suggests that many families are adopting negative coping mechanisms to manage its fallout, including spending less on education and health or requiring their children to work. Children from low-income households have less access to remote learning devices, and parents may be less likely to have time or skills to support their children’s learning. An emerging issue is that girls may have less access to digital learning than boys because of social fears that they will access inappropriate material.

Policy recommendations include expanding social protection programs; reducing the digital divide so that all children can continue learning; designing remote learning programs that are accessible to all children and adapted for households that do not have access to broadcast or digital media; supporting and training teachers and parents to manage remote virtual classrooms and help children learn at home, at all levels of education; and targeting girls’ access and bias against online learning for girls, including more real-time analysis and surveys to assess implications for girls’ learning and to inform more customized learning content and training materials (El-Laithy 2021).

INCREASING FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION

Increasing the female labor force participation rate (LFPR) in Egypt, particularly among urban, educated women, is critical for addressing the fertility challenge. Women’s participation has not increased, despite improvements in their education attainment and the relatively large share of women holding a university degree. The reasons are not only structural but also normative, with values and practices associated with gendered roles and relations acting as barriers to the female LFPR. It is crucial to reduce these barriers and expand job opportunities for women through reforms that facilitate childcare and mandate equal pay. Increased female labor force participation thus calls for a comprehensive approach in the following main areas.

Improving women’s employability Female enrollment in higher education has increased in recent years, but it needs to shift toward disciplines that offer higher rates of employment for females, as opposed to the current majority in humanities. higher education institutions need to create career guidance mechanisms that specifically target female secondary students to inform their decisions about which field of study to pursue, encouraging them to enroll more in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines or other more labor-market-relevant programs. Their employability could be further enhanced through targeted support by university career services, to ease their transition into jobs. This would ideally be coupled with behavioral training targeting teachers at all grade levels to address gender-biased stereotyping and establish a more gender-sensitive mind-set early on. MOETE is committed to a more gender-sensitive approach in its Education 2.0 reform.

Providing support services that facilitate female employment Although data indicate that the returns to female higher education are significant (and higher than that of males), women are often challenged by lack of affordable childcare (nurseries or kindergarten, for example). As household chores—particularly care for family members (child and elderly care)—virtually always fall on women’s shoulders, better policies to support the care economy would no doubt boost the female LFPR. A growing body of research has investigated this impact and confirms that childcare is indeed an instrumental factor in lifting the female LFPR, for two reasons: first, the childcare industry is an employer of women, and expanding it would create more opportunities for women; and second, the expansion would allow mothers to return to the labor market in other sectors. In addition, female graduates may require targeted career counseling (in addition to shifting to higher rates of employment disciplines) to help them find job opportunities and become employed.

Creating an enabling and conducive environment for female employment One key policy direction here would be targeted awareness and/or an incentives package primarily focused on employers to reduce biased decision-making that negatively affects female employment (including promotions). A more conducive and safe environment for women in the workplace starts with addressing employers’ stereotyping of female employees that either drives candidates away or offers them a lower-value package of salary and benefits. A combined package of awareness on the value added of female workers, as well as incentives to recruit females, is needed.

In an effort to incentivize and institutionalize gender equity in the private sector in Egypt, the national Council for Women, with support from the World Bank, revived the Egyptian Equity Seal certification, a model that was successfully implemented in Latin America. The model promotes gender equity in the private sector by building a series of good practices in recruitment, career development, family–work balance, and sexual harassment.

Combating violence against women and girls

Women and girls face gender-based violence in both the public and private spheres, and addressing it is crucial to increasing the female LFPR. This could be achieved by enforcing the legislation on violence against women and girls and sexual harassment in public spaces, including on transportation and in the workspace, as this will encourage women’s uptake of job opportunities. Another key measure is sharing information with the public on the law against violence against women and girls and sexual harassment. Grievance-redress mechanisms in organizations, when implemented properly, including respectfully treating victims and maintaining their privacy, are also important, not only to ensure justice but also to send a strong signal to communities that such behaviors are unacceptable.

Addressing the social norms and values system Sociocultural norms and stereotypes that shape gender roles and identify women with restrictive characteristics and capabilities in the labor market

reinforce existing inequalities. Changing them is therefore critical for a higher female LFPR. Such norms justify discrimination in the labor market— despite improvements in female education and skills—and, inevitably, shape women’s engagement and preferences. Such rigid gender roles influence the types of work women and men do, the amount of work they do, and how well they are compensated. This is especially troublesome given that women bear the burden of unpaid care and household labor. unless investments are made to translate gender equality policy into actions, these deeply entrenched informal social norms will undermine the best policies and plans for advancing gender justice. These actions can be achieved through designing and implementing initiatives using a behavioral lens approach to change and social norms, and to the expectations that shape gender roles and behaviors.

Addressing impediments in the private sector

While women are well represented—36 percent—in the government and public sector combined in Egypt, only 18 percent of the country’s female workforce is employed in the private sector. The representation of women across economic sectors also varies considerably. Further, women on average get paid 34 percent less per hour than their male counterparts, and they are underrepresented on boards of companies and in managerial positions (9.7 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively).

Against this backdrop, and in view of a shrinking public sector and a private sector that is increasingly playing a central role in employment creation and economic growth, it is imperative that the private sector become more hospitable to women to encourage their employment, be reconcilable with women’s domestic responsibilities, and improve their working conditions. This demands concerted efforts to address biases and to enhance inclusiveness and gender equality in the workplace, achievable through gender-sensitive policies and measures that need to be institutionalized within the company. Examples include creating safe working spaces for women; ensuring access to childcare; promoting flexible working arrangements; addressing biases in recruitment and making proactive efforts to recruit qualified women; and creating a culture of open communication where concerns and challenges can be discussed and corrective measures taken.

Further, the Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator—launched by the Ministry of International Cooperation with the national Council for Women (nCW) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), and in partnership with the private sector— is a step in the right direction. It aims to help the government and businesses close economic gender gaps; design innovative plans that will encourage growth and shape the workforce landscape; advance gender parity, diversity, and inclusion; and improve the ability of families and individuals to increase their income through economic mobility (un Women 2020).

Boosting women’s participation in promising new sectors

In examining opportunities for expanding women’s employment in the private sector, the “Women Economic Empowerment Study” identifies the top 12 industries in Egypt that hire women intensively or have the potential to grow and could employ more women, including social care, education, human health, garments, computers and electronics, pharmaceuticals, financial services, travel agencies, business services, real estate, information and communications