On the third day of the Egypt Energy Show (EGYPES), the President of the National Council for Human Rights, Moushira Khattab, gave an inspiring keynote speech titled “Advancing Gender Equality in the Energy Sector: Tackling Sociocultural Barriers”.
She began her speech by expressing her endless pride in Egyptian women who have proven strong enough to level up economically and enjoy human rights like never before.
Moushira also praised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who took it upon himself to act as a Minister of Women with his unwavering eagerness to empower Egyptian women by overseeing numerous national initiatives to support them.
In her speech, she stated that Women nowadays play an influential role in industries previously known to be dominated by men, like the energy sector, among other fields that have witnessed a great deal of equality, diversity, and inclusion, a key goal that we are all working to achieve.
She moved on to highlight the countless success stories of women working in such a dynamic, highly competitive sector like the petroleum and energy sector, where female representation in the workforce has globally reached 22%, especially since women have faced significant difficulty in joining the energy and petroleum field in the past and had to overcome the challenge posed by the global preference for men out of the false belief or myth that women could not keep up.
According to Khattab, female breadwinners represent approximately 30% of Egypt’s workforce. In addition, the Egyptian woman successfully balances domestic obligations, living alone, and work, yet almost always lacks the necessities of comfort, not to mention a culture that does not recognize female abilities among various other obstacles.
However, women have overcome these obstacles, and many have gone on to achieve impressive success stories; some have even been able to pursue graduate studies while working and balancing their studies with family commitments.
The president of the NCHR pointed out that the World Bank is a great example of a key oil partner that has recognized the capabilities of many women professionals, allowing some of them to join the organization and continue to serve the industry as consultants.
She further mentioned that Women’s participation represents an increase in national income in Japan by 9%, the United States by 5%, and Egypt by an astounding 34%, so a women’s human rights report that promotes gender diversity and integration in the oil and gas and manufacturing industries proves that women’s participation leads to better outcomes.
Khattab ended her speech by stressing her firm belief that Egypt deserves a new law that reinforces the constitutional rights of Egyptian women as equal to men, especially after President El-Sisi publicly stated that he would not sign a law that does not implement equity for women.
