Egypt Launches 1st Closing Gender Gap Accelerator in Africa, MENA

The Ministry of International Cooperation, the National Council for Women, and the World Economic Forum have launched “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator”, a national public-private collaboration model which enables governments and businesses to take decisive action on closing economic gender gaps.

The Model supports public and private leaders in shaping innovative pathways to promote gender equality, persity, inclusion, and economic mobility, which is central to Egypt’s reform agenda.

Egypt is the first country in Africa and the Middle East to launch this unique public-private collaboration model supported by the World Economic Forum’s platform.

The Accelerator focuses on four key objectives; preparing women for the post-COVID-19 world of work, closing gender gaps in remuneration between and within sectors, enabling women’s participation in the labor force, and advancing more women into management and leadership roles.

Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, said: “The launch of Egypt’s Gender Gap accelerator highlights the Government of Egypt’s continuous commitment to apply required policies and structural reforms to push the gender agenda and empower Egyptian women, as women’s participation in the economy is macro-critical."

"The Gender Accelerator 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”.

“Leveraging on the World Economic Forum’s global platform, the accelerator will indeed help expedite the implementation of SDG5 across sectors in Egypt and serve as a multi-stakeholder platform," she added.

Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women noted that “Closing the gender gap accelerator will be the hub for all the initiatives that fall under the Women’s Economic Empowerment Pillar of the Egyptian National Strategy for the Empowerment of Women 2030."

“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” said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director and Head of the Centre for the New Economy and Society at the World Economic Forum.

“The World Economic Forum is delighted Egypt will be the first country from the region to join the global network of Closing the Gender Gap Accelerators”.

Co-Chaired by Private Sector Representatives namely, the Commercial International Bank, Qala’a Holdings, Travco Group International, and Delta Investment Holdings, the Accelerator platform will engage with up to 100 private companies in various economic sectors, in addition to civil society experts- targeting the endorsement of policies and plans to advance women economic empowerment in the different fields and at all levels.

"I am extremely proud of our participation in such an important global initiative. Gender gaps of all forms have been an issue plaguing our societies for centuries," said Mr. Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, Chairman CIB Egypt.

"At CIB-Egypt, we take pride in our achievements and strides when it comes to not just empowering women within our own ranks but also to empower women to grow and create jobs within their respective fields through access to a wide array of financial services," Ezz Al-Arab said.

“It’s an honor to be named Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Accelerator in Egypt, alongside HE Minister Dr. Rania Al Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Maya Morsi, Chair of the National Council for Women, and several esteemed private sector leaders," added Hisham El-Khazindar, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Qalaa Holdings.

What is “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” Model?  

• The World Economic Forum’s Accelerator is a national public-private collaboration platform that engages governments and businesses in taking take action on closing economic gender gaps.

• The Model helps Public and Private leaders to design innovative pathways for growth, shape tomorrow’s education and workforce landscape, and push gender parity, persity, inclusion, and economic mobility. 

Who are the key stakeholders in Egypt?

• The Accelerator in Egypt is governed through the following structure: 

What are its objectives on both the national and international levels? 

• On the national level: The model currently focuses on 4 main objectives: 

Preparing women for the post-COVID-19 world of work, 

Closing gender gaps in remuneration between and within sectors, 

Enabling women’s participation in the labor force, and 

Advancing more women into management and leadership.

• While on the international level:  it is seen that each country’s accelerator is part of the global network for co-creating solutions through the World Economic Forum’s Platform. 

How is the Accelerator model applied to each country’s local context?

The Accelerator is preceded by a System Analysis done on the country level; in coordination with key stakeholders and local coordinators. The System Analysis includes both Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses.