Egypt has invested heavily in closing gender gaps in health and education over the past decades, but these gains have not translated into increased female labor force participation. In fact, the female labor force participation rate is just 15.4%, compared to 67.1% for men. Of course, COVID-19 has had a shock effect on labor market dynamics, especially for women, with the pandemic forcing women in particular to drop out of the labor force altogether.
However, Egypt is committed to empowering women, and in 2017 launched the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030, which aligns with the country’s sustainable development strategy and aims to enable women to develop their potential and achieve self-actualization. This will drive the creation of more sustainable jobs and help Egypt develop.
The World Bank has been helping Egyptian women work and earn an income through several projects.
One of the successful economic inclusion programs supported by the World Bank is “FORSA” (meaning Opportunity in Arabic), which is being piloted in eight governorates (Qal’ibiya, Sharqia, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Menia, Assiut, Sohag, and Luxor). It is part of the ongoing “Social Safety Net Strengthening Project” supporting Takaful and Karama, which means “Solidarity and Dignity” in Arabic, and is the country’s flagship social safety net program. Takaful and Karama provide conditional and unconditional cash transfers to the poor, elderly, orphans, and disabled. To date, the Egyptian government has supported 5 million households, of which 4.1 million are covered by ongoing programs, 320,000 are covered by Daman (old social pension) pending the issuance of a new law, and 600,000 are covered by the National Coalition for Community Development Programs.
FORSA is implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity. It supports Takaful and Karama beneficiaries to transition from reliance on cash transfers to sustainable income generation, increasing their economic resilience and financial independence. It does so through diverse interventions focused on rural activities and women. Interventions include wage employment and the provision of assets that enable sustainable income generation. FORSA also provides the technical and financial know-how required to effectively operate and benefit from those assets. With the collaboration of local non-governmental organizations, the program has so far actively engaged over 60,000 potential women beneficiaries through behavioral change trainings that introduce the program and disseminate information about its objectives, as well as encouraging them to participate in economic inclusion activities. To date, around 4,000 women have received assets that will enable them to sustain their livelihoods.
“I learned about the FORSA programme when the team visited me at home and explained what it entailed,” said Sabreen Abdel Zaher, a 39-year-old asset transfer beneficiary and mother of three from Luxor Governorate in Upper Egypt. “I joined the programme and was given three sheep, two of which are female, one of which is pregnant and has recently given birth to another sheep which I plan to sell. I will combine the money from the sale of the sheep with some savings to buy two more female sheep which will give birth to more sheep. I hope to continue to expand my business, earn an income and be able to buy everything my family needs.”
Eman Ramadan Abdel Rahman (41), from Minya, Upper Egypt, is also able to support her family through FORSA. “I have seven children. My husband is currently unemployed, and my youngest child is very ill and needs a lot of medicine,” she said. “To support my family, I buy vegetables at the market at night and sell them in front of my house the next day.” Eman is a wage-earner, and in addition to not having the money to buy the vegetables she needed, she was also in debt because she could not pay for her older daughters’ weddings or her younger son’s medicine. However, when she heard about the FORSA program, she applied, was trained in peach picking, and got a job. “Now I have a stable income, so I’m paying off my debts,” she said happily. Now she can buy and sell more vegetables, give her son medicine, and help with her children’s education. “In addition to the work experience, this job allows me to interact with a lot of people. I feel happy and healthy. I believe that every woman should gain experience, see different things, and enjoy life.”
Supporting entrepreneurship for women to capture and create more jobs is a key objective of the World Bank around the world. In 2021, Egypt launched the “Promoting Entrepreneurship for Job Creation” project, which has supported over 76,000 women to start their own businesses to date. However, the project generally supports a wide range of businesses across the country through financial and non-financial support, targeting traditional MSMEs (medium, small, and micro enterprises) as well as innovative fast-growing businesses with debt and equity. Non-financial support includes training and capacity-building sessions to enable beneficiaries to manage and grow their businesses. The project focuses on supporting not only women, but also underserved states, marginalized groups, and youth.
Samira Negm, 35, benefited from the project by working with Endure Capital, a venture capital fund under the project that supports fast-growing startups. With funding from the project to stimulate entrepreneurship and create jobs, Samira and her business partner launched Egypt’s first agritech startup, SHUNA. The company supports small farmers by providing them with high-quality agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and the latest agricultural best practices, and connecting them directly with companies that buy their harvests without the middleman. “Endure Capital suggested that my technical expertise would be a good fit for SHUNA. They connected me with my business partner and provided funding, which has allowed us to increase our technical capabilities, reach farmers more efficiently, expand our team, and track our harvests throughout the supply chain. We hope to establish a presence and expand across the country,” said Samira.
Eman Rabie, 22, lives in Fayoum Governorate and is a beneficiary of the project’s support for small businesses. “I used to run a very small rattan workshop, making baskets, trays and other items by myself,” she says. “One day the project team approached me and asked if I wanted to expand my workshop, told me about the project and what it offered.” She applied and received funding, which allowed her to buy more materials and expand her workshop. She then employed her three parents-in-law in the workshop. Now she has an income that supports the education of her four daughters and buys the things her family needs. She sells her goods to traders, who resell them in their own shops. “I hope that one day I can expand my workshop and have my own shop in the center, where I can sell my goods directly.”
Women’s empowerment does not only include generating employment and income. Asset ownership is a major obstacle and challenge to women’s stability and realization of their potential. One of the largest assets one can own and leverage is a home. Research shows that in many MENA countries, including Egypt, there are socio-cultural norms that allow only men to own such large assets. In 2018, only 5% of Egyptian women owned assets (jointly or alone), compared to 95% of Egyptian men.
One of the programs aimed at solving this challenge is the Egypt Inclusive Housing Finance Program. The program aims to ensure that low-income groups can purchase decent housing at an affordable price. Since its inception, the program has supported women in owning their own property. Of the more than 480,000 low-income beneficiaries of the project, 23% are women, of whom 80% belong to the poorest 40% of the population. The project has contributed to closing the asset ownership gap. The program remains a top priority for the government and continues to perform well.
Rasha Soliman, 40, from Cairo applied for the social housing program in search of safety and stability for her husband and children. “When we were renting, our landlords would often threaten to terminate our contract or raise the rent,” she said. “Now, I feel secure as the owner of my own home. I can pay in installments that are much cheaper than what I was paying in rent, and I live close to my three children’s schools. The location of our house is also good, so I was able to find a good job nearby.”
The World Bank remains committed to its ongoing support for women in Egypt. Successive global shocks have hit economies around the world, with women often disproportionately affected. “We believe that women’s participation is an invaluable tool to promote countries’ growth, which is why supporting women’s empowerment through our projects and policy work is paramount. This is a key cross-cutting theme of the World Bank-Egypt Partnership Framework going forward from FY23-27,” said Marina Wess, World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.
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