Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Egypt 1st Country To Launch WEF's Closing Gender Gap Accelerator


Wed 25 Sep 2019 | 10:32 PM
Hassan El-Khawaga

Egyptian Tourism Minister Dr. Rania Al-Mashat had signed a Letter of Intent on launching the World Economic Forum's 'Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator' in Egypt.

This letter makes Egypt the first country in Africa and the Middle East to launch such a project.

Al-Mashat signed the letter with WEF President Borge Brende and Managing Director and Head of the Centre for the New Economy and Society at the World Economic Forum Saadia Zahidi, according to a statement released by WEF.

https://twitter.com/RaniaAlMashat/status/1176634257881608193

The project aims to increase the number of women in the labor market, promote more women into economic leadership positions, close wage gaps, and ensure that women have the skills demanded by the future of work and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Al-Mashat, who is WEF Young Global Leader, said: "At the Tourism Ministry, implementing policies that enable the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the essence of the Egypt – Tourism Reform Program (E–TRP)."

"E–TRP aims to create a sustainable tourism sector through adopting structural reforms that strengthen the sector’s competitiveness in line with international standards," the minister noted.

[caption id="attachment_80969" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Al-Mashat Signs Letter of Intent with WEF Al-Mashat Signs Letter of Intent with WEF[/caption]

"The Egypt Gender Gap accelerator that will bring together multi-stakeholder actors across the public and private sectors to generate local insight, develop local needs-based action plans and drive their execution," she added.

On her part, Zahidi said: "Egypt has made tremendous investments in its human capital foundation by expanding women’s higher education in recent years. The accelerator will support local efforts to unleash the full potential of women in the Egyptian economy."

[caption id="attachment_80970" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Al-Mashat with Zahidi Al-Mashat with Zahidi[/caption]

Al-Mashat is set to lead the three-year project in cooperation with Maya Morsi, the president of the National Council for Women (NCW). Through these years, a number of effective policies will be adopted to narrow the gender gap and boost gender equality in the companies.  

It is worth noting that the project is being implemented in eight countries including Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and South Korea.

The Sustainable Development Impact Summit took place in New York, 23-24 September.