Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women in Egypt, attended the high-level session during the proceedings of the AWIEF 2022 conference entitled “ “Advancing Africa Through Gender Integration”. Under the theme of “Gender Equity as Catalyst of SDGs and the African agenda 2063, the forum targets to boosting and accelerating the growth of MSMEs to achieve comprehensive economic development in Africa.
In her speech, Dr. Maya affirmed that the robust political will has been thriving to boost the instrumental factors for women empowerment, as the Egyptian women are currently living in the golden era, enjoying the rights that they have been pursuing a long time ago.
Maya highlighted that Egypt’s constitution entailed protecting women’s rights, as well as boosting women empowerment and gender equity in all spheres of life. Further, the constitution also raised women’s representation rate in parliament from 25% to 28%, with a forecasted rise in the future. She also stated that the Egyptian% women were appointed to hold various roles in the judiciary system after 72 years.
She also stated that the statistics showed that women’s role in work contributed to a 34% surge in the GDP rate. By mid-2021, financial inclusion led to an increase in the banking accounts owned by women from 47.5%, compared to 27% in 2017. She also referred to the NCW’s role in ensuring anti-discrimination in the workplace, bridging the gender gap, and promoting the PPP to empower women financially.
Maya illustrated the importance of the national initiatives launched to entirely change the stereotyping of women, namely the “Noura” initiative to empower the Egyptian girl that was launched under the auspices of H.E. Mrs. Intisar El-Sisi. This is in addition to the country’s efforts to combat all types of violence against women. The NCW recently launched in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) a new program for empowering women.
The 8th edition of AWIEF brought together international experts including Dr. Nievine El Kabbag, Minister of Social Solidarity, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, and Christine Arab, Country Representative at the UN Women.
