Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, inaugurated the conference to launch the annual monitoring report of the Egyptian Women’s Observatory on Boards of Directors, entitled “Paving the way towards achieving the 2030 goals”.
During her speech, Dr. Hala highlighted the remarkable achievements of women in leadership roles, as evidenced by the report. She emphasized that this progress is not just a statistic, but a testament to the transformative power of women’s leadership in shaping the future.
Dr. Hala underlined the potential of women’s empowerment, not just as an investment for the future, but as a catalyst for stronger local communities. By amplifying women’s voices, we can foster more effective decision-making and pave the way for a just and inclusive society, instilling hope for a brighter future.
Dr. Hala reiterated Egypt’s unwavering commitment to women’s empowerment. She highlighted the pioneering step of launching the first national strategy for women in the world, a testament to Egypt’s dedication to sustainable development and advancing women’s role in society. This commitment includes increasing women’s representation on boards of directors, assuring the audience of Egypt’s steadfastness in this endeavor.
Moreover, Al-Saeed emphasized that although males have dominated administrative positions and board positions for a long time, women can bring valuable opinions and ideas to management strategy, as well as interest in social responsibility and customer visions, explaining that statistics showed that companies with the largest percentage of female CEOs and board members outperform its competitors in terms of an average return on equity and assets of at least 74%.
She added that Egypt has placed on its list of priorities to encourage projects and bodies to increase the number of women on their boards of directors, pointing to the decision of the Central Bank of Egypt for the year 2021 to request all banks to ensure that women occupy at least two seats on their boards of directors, as well as the Egyptian Financial Supervision Authority issuing decisions obligating companies listed on the stock exchange and regulated companies must increase the number of women on their boards of directors to at least two or increase the percentage of women to 25% of their boards of directors.
Dr. Hala continued that. As a result, the percentage of women’s participation has increased, according to the report of the Egyptian Women’s Observatory in Boards of Directors 2023, in senior leadership positions and the boards of directors of companies traded on the Egyptian Stock Exchange in the banking sectors, in public institutions, and in the non-banking financial sector, to reach a significant level of 22.2. % in 2023, and the general index of women’s representation on councils in the bodies studied showed an increase of about 3.6% between 2022 and 2023.
Al-Saeed also explained that if the current annual growth rates continue, it is expected that the goal of women’s representation of 6.7% will be achieved during the next three years while reaching the 2030 strategy goal of representing 30% of women on boards of directors by 2026.
She concluded by stressing that the economic empowerment of women represents an essential factor in advancing both moral and economic progress, noting the importance of cooperation through empowering women economically, supporting their leadership roles, and benefiting from their skills to advance the development of the region, explaining that the launch of the report represents a milestone towards creating a positive societal impact.
