The International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Law and Gender Conference was held in Egypt on Wednesday, focusing on the interaction between the private sector and the judiciary to boost women’s economic participation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
“Gender is a crosscutting theme in policies related to climate change, food security, and science and technology as an essential condition for progress in sustainable development, and these are goals Egypt embraces,” said Egypt’s minister of international cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat.
Despite implementing over 200 measures to increase women’s economic involvement, the MENA area still maintains a gender gap.
The MENA region has one of the lowest female labor force participation rates in the world, at 18.4 percent, according to the World Bank, exposing gender inequities in economic security, health, and safety.
The conference is in line with the World Bank’s commitment to gender equality in order to eradicate extreme poverty and achieve SDG 5, which focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
“The case for gender equality is clear, and the timing is urgent,” said Christopher Stevens, World Bank Group senior vice president and general counsel, during the summit.
“Private sector-led development in emerging markets can only succeed with the equal participation of both women and men,” said Emmanuel Nyirinkindi, IFC vice president of Cross-Cutting Solutions.
The IFC focuses on private sector development through financing and advising private sector companies.
It has a growing portfolio of nearly $1.5 billion in investment projects and $32 million in advisory programmes in Egypt covering key areas such as access to finance, fintech, climate finance, manufacturing, infrastructure and renewable energy, healthcare, and gender issues.
