On Wednesday, the Economic and Social Empowerment Program for Women, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Pathfinder International in cooperation with the National Council for Women (NCW), held a ceremony of recognition of the achievements of private-sector companies in achieving a more inclusive work environment.
The event highlighted the program’s support for the Closing the Gender Gap in Egypt (CGGA) Catalyst, the Egyptian Gender Equality Seal (EGES), and qualifying qualified auditors to review business plans for a more inclusive environment and adopt the seal at private sector companies.
The program works closely with its counterparts in the Egyptian government: the Ministry of International Cooperation and the National Council for Women (NCW) to leverage resources to support women’s empowerment at private sector companies.
The EGES certification promotes gender equality in the private sector by building and implementing best practices and policies that address: employment, career development, family-work balance, and combating violence against women and girls (VAWG).
The ceremony was attended by Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women, Mr. Sean Jones, Director of the USAID Mission in Egypt, Dina Kafafi, Director of the Women’s Economic and Social Empowerment Program at Pathfinder International, and Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation.
The event also witnessed the Women’s Economic and Social Empowerment Program signing letters of cooperation with five companies from the private sector: Cleopatra Hospitals Group, AstraZeneca, Injazat, the Egyptian Gulf Bank, and Alex Apparel, to implement institutional initiatives to support women’s empowerment in the workplace and communities.
The Women's Economic and Social Empowerment Program aims to improve the working environment in private sector companies, expand women's financial inclusion, increase access to financial services, and create market-based solutions to empower women economically.
It also seeks to strengthen the prevention and response mechanisms for violence against women by implementing initiatives that promote safe, empowering, and economically just environments for women.
In a recording speech, Al-Mashat said: “Evidence has highlighted by multiple institutions that women’s participation in the economy is critical to the overall economy, and this positions the gender equality agenda as one of the key priorities for a resilient and inclusive future.”
"The certification ceremony for the Egyptian Gender Equality Seal (EGES) auditors and awarding of the seal to private sector companies highlights one of the most important achievements of private sector companies towards creating more inclusive workplaces," she noted.
The Minister added that these efforts are in line with the goals of the Bridging the Gender Gap Catalyst, which is a national model for cooperation between the public and private sectors that enables governments and companies to take decisive action to close economic gaps between the genders.
During her speech, Morsy stressed that this event is part of the issue of women’s economic empowerment and their participation in the labor market.
She noted this issue the Egyptian state pays great attention to thanks to the presence of a supportive political will and support for women’s empowerment in general and economic empowerment in particular.
"It considers it a major national priority and an inevitable necessity to achieve the renaissance of society," Morsy added.
She continued that the Egyptian state has approved many policies that support women's participation in the labor market, most notably Article 11 of the Constitution and the National Strategy for Empowering Egyptian Women 2030.
Those policies approved by the state also include the “Catalyst for Closing the Gender Gap,” which was launched by the National Council for Women in cooperation with the Ministry of International Cooperation, and is based on the model of the World Economic Forum.
"Egypt is the first country to apply this model for cooperation between the public and private sectors in Africa and the Middle East region," Morsy noted.
She explained that the incentive is a supportive platform for other economic models implemented by the Council to achieve the economic empowerment of women, which are: the Egyptian Seal of Gender Equality and the global principles of women’s empowerment.
The NCW president highlighted that so far the previous models have achieved many steps and achievements in support of their goals, including the number of Egyptian companies joining the Global Principles for Women’s Empowerment reaching 101 companies and the number of Egyptian companies that have already joined and the companies that are still in the process of joining the Egyptian Seal for Gender Equality totaled 30 Egyptian companies.
Morsy announced the establishment of a “Catalyst Unit for Closing the Gap and the Egyptian Seal for Gender Equality in the Private Sector” at the headquarters of the National Council for Women.
The unit is effective immediately and is concerned with building capabilities and supporting companies’ methodology to create a work environment conducive to the integration of women into the labor market.
Dina Kafafi said the Women’s Economic and Social Empowerment Program is proud to support the Egyptian government by providing technical assistance and capacity building for private sector companies to achieve diversity, inclusion, and women’s empowerment in the workplace.
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