The Minister of International Cooperation H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, held a meeting to discuss progress in the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator”, alongside the participation of Dr. Maya Morsy, the President of the National Council for Women (NCW); Seylot Haselar, Director of the Catalyst Program at the World Economic Forum; Neveen El Tahri, Chairperson at Delta Shield for Investment; Hisham El-Khazindar, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Qalaa Holdings; Dalia Abdel Kader, Chief Sustainability Officer at the Commercial International Bank (CIB) in Egypt; and Laila Healy, the Director of Marketing and PR at Travco.
The meeting discussed the latest developments in implementing the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” in light of the Government of Egypt’s commitment to empowering women and bridge gender gaps, through coordinated efforts and cooperation between government entities, the private sector, civil society, and international stakeholders.
Egypt is the first country in Africa, Middle East, and North Africa to launch this public-private collaboration model supported by the World Economic Forum. The accelerator aims to address current gender gaps and reshape gender parity for an inclusive future. The accelerator model drives structural reforms, highlighting the need for collaborative action across different levels – not just the development of the institutional structures and policies but as well the gradual change in norms, and social behavior.
During the meeting, Al-Mashat expressed the importance of the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” in economically empowering women through four main aspects; to prepare women for the post COVID-19 world of work, to close gender gaps in remuneration between and within sectors, to enable women’s participation in the labour force, and to advance more women into management and leadership positions.
The Minister added that private sector companies will have an active role in implementing this plan, as four major companies have a key role in the accelerator’s objectives. Al-Mashat added that the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” also aims to include 100 companies for implementation, noting the formation of working groups per each goal to coordinate efforts and achieve the desired results.
H.E. Al-Mashat also referred to the close cooperation between the Ministry of International Cooperation and the NCW, alongside the development partners, represented by the WEF in this project, as well as the private sector companies, in achieving specific goals for the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator”. This is in line with advancing the economic empowerment of women, and the country’s efforts to achieve comprehensive, sustainable economic recovery and growth.
The Minister explained that the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” is one of the projects supervised by the Ministry to support the empowerment of women, in accordance with SDG 5: Gender Equality, explaining that progressing towards a well-rounded sustainable development requires joint action across all relevant entities and stakeholders, including government entities, private sector, and development partners.
The President of the NCW, Dr. Maya Morsy expressed her gratitude towards what has been achieved within the framework of the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” and in light of the Government of Egypt’s commitment to achieve gender equality, explaining that there are six main areas for progress; institutional transformation, services, policies, capacity building, awareness, and knowledge. Several decisions have been issued, including the efforts of the Financial Regulatory Authority in adopting a commitment to preventing harassment at work, alongside efforts from the Ministry of Transportation in implementing a code of conduct for its employees.
This is in addition to the Ministry of Manpower’s decision to lift social restrictions imposed on women either working at night or venturing into male-dominated industries while ensuring their safety. Moreover, three policy papers were initiated regarding unpaid care and its impact on the economic empowerment of women.
Morsy also referred to the cooperation with the World Bank in launching the Egyptian Gender Equality Seal, alongside the private sector, and the digital saving and lending project within financial inclusion programs that are organized by the NCW in partnership with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
The “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” was launched in July 2020, and its preparation followed. In the same year, the NCW was chosen as the national coordinator for the project and co-chairs from the private sector were invited to participate. At the beginning of 2020, work teams from the public and private sectors began conducting studies for the accelerator’s launch, while studying international experiences. Towards the end of this year, the implementation plan was completed and scheduled to last for three years.
The governance structure of the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” includes the Ministry of International Cooperation and the NCW as the government entities, alongside the private sector, including four CEOs as co-chairs from the CIB, Qalaa Holdings, Travco, and Delta Shield for Investment, as well as up to 100 companies working to participate in promoting policies for women’s empowerment.
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