Egyptian moms play a crucial role in their daughters’ stable careers, despite the unequal job opportunities provided for women to this day. Dr Mariam Abouelenin and Professor Yang Hu, of Lancaster University, conducted a research study that underlined the growing impact of working Egyptian mothers on their adolescent daughters, pointing out how girls are more affected by their mothers than they are by their fathers, as daughters usually follow their mothers’ career ambition.
The research also added that mothers’ employment in the public or private sector jumpstarts their daughters’ aspirations and opportunities to acquire a secure job in the same sector.
The titled study, ‘Maternal Employment Shapes Daughters’ Employment Stability in Egypt: Evidence for the Intergenerational Transmission of Labor Force Attachment’ has been published in the journal, Sex Roles. It mainly reflects on how women’s employment is shaped by their mothers’ career choice
Dr. Abouelenin shared the findings of her study, which indicated that supporting Egyptian moms’ employment leads to empowering women and achieving gender equality in the job market for generations. She also highlighted the strong relation between having an employed mother and a daughter’s job stability, pointing out that girls with employed mothers have double the chance to get stable employment than girls with stay-at-home moms.
She said “We felt this study was important because women’s employment stability is an important yet understudied dimension of women’s economic empowerment”, Adding “A common trend that we are seeing in Egypt – and many Middle East and North Africa countries – is a rapid increase in female education attainment and the closing of gender gaps in education. But women’s educational success is not translating into their participation in the labour force.”
And then she concluded her speech by stating “Future interventions are needed to also break sectorial segregation in the Egyptian labour market,” she added. “One area worth targeting is the intergenerational relationship between mothers and their daughters.”
