gender inequality in egypt essay

Gender Inequality In Egypt

• Kathryn Hanlon
• January 23, 2017

This week there has been a focus on women’s rights and gender equality. In the spirit of promoting gender equality and to bring to light the different roles of women around the world, this article will focus on gender inequality in Egypt.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for 2015 ranked Egypt 136 out of 145 countries for gender inequality. This would place Egypt lower on the list than Oman and Saudi Arabia. The report is based on four main pillars: economic participation and opportunity, education, health, and political empowerment. In Egypt, women make up only 26 percent of the labour force with an annual income of US$5,218.00 compared to the 79 percent of men in the labour force, who earn an average of US$17,353.00. With respect to education, 82 percent of Egyptian men are literate compared to the 65% of women who are literate. With respect to political empowerment, 12 percent of women occupy ministerial positions compared to men who make up 88 percent.

Men and women are often subjected to different consequences under the law. For example in October last year a controversial bill was introduced in Egypt. This bill aimed to make the penalties for adultery the same for men and women. Currently, if a married woman is shown to have committed adultery she will serve two years in prison. If a married man is shown to have committed adultery he will serve 6 months in prison, however this is only if he is shown to have committed adultery in the house he shares with his wife. The law on adultery is just one of many examples of gender in equality under the law in Egypt.

Part of the problem concerns social attitudes. Inequalities are not always perceived as inequalities but rather are considered to be merely the reflection of the differences between a man and a woman. Women’s issues are also tarnished by western intervention. Hollywood and American TV shows have painted a view of western women as decadent and lacking in honour, and they are are valued for their body and nothing else.

However, since President Sisi took power there has been a small shift towards addressing gender inequalities. In the 2014 Constitution, there are several articles which favour women. There has also been an increase in organizations, such as OpAntiSH, Tahir Bodyguards, Shoft Taharrush, and HarassMap, which have created initiatives to protect women from sexual harassment and violence.  So hopefully, with time, the gender inequality in Egypt will disappear and men and women will be equal.

• Recent Posts
• The International Committee Of The Red Cross To Suspend Operations In Afghanistan - February 13, 2017
• Afghan Government Controls Less Than 60 Percent Of The Country - February 5, 2017
• The Netherlands Commit $10 Million To Aid Abortion Services In Developing Nations - February 1, 2017

Controversies Surrounding U.S. Navy Officer Ridge Alkonis: Impact On U.S.-Japan Relations, Public Outrage, And Legal Implications

U.S. Navy Officer Ridge Alkonis killed two Japanese citizens—an 85-year-old woman and her 54-year-old son-in-law—in a car accident during a trip to Mount Fuji. When

Gaza Airstrike Targets Hamas Military Chief, Killing 90 Palestinians

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday, targeting Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, according to

The Role Of Jordan In The Resolution Of The Israel-Hamas Conflict

The 7th of October was a turning point for Israel and Palestine. Since then, the conflict has decisively worsened. Considering the difficult situation and the

• UN Women HQ
• Arab States/North Africa

Gender Equality and a Sustainable Planet - We cannot achieve one without the other

Date: Wednesday, 23 March 2022

Gender inequality and the environmental crisis are the two greatest sustainable development challenges of our time. Climate change and COVID-19 have worsened existing inequalities world wide. Biodiversity loss, desertification, pollution, and extreme weather events decimate livelihoods and increase poverty and displacement. Globally, women and girls are disproportionately affected, as they depend more on – yet have less access to – services and resources. Despite this reality, women are increasingly the drivers of climate adaptation and sustainable responses at the community level.

More than ever, it is crucial to work together to realize a gender-equal world with climate-smart and sustainable approaches. At this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) – the world’s largest gathering on gender equality currently being held in New York – governments will agree on the priorities to address gender and climate change. Ahead of the 27 th Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, these CSW priorities will underline how gender equality can drive climate action and mitigate impacts. Egypt has prioritized gender equality and women’s empowerment at the highest level, and its presidency of COP27 is an opportunity to mobilize Member States and private sector to do the same.

Climate change induced increases the price of energy and food, worsens poverty levels, strains national budgets and jeopardizes competitiveness. This particularly affects women, especially those facing intersecting inequalities. Protecting against an increase in food insecurity remains a priority of the Government of Egypt, with the country ranked 55 th of 113 countries in the Global Food Security Index (2019), and an estimated 74.3% of households in rural Upper Egypt facing food insecurity (FAO 2020). In a time of global rise in food prices, worldwide the engagement of local women’s voices on identification of needs and response to food insecurity is essential to ensure greater community resilience... Working with our national counterparts and stakeholders, UN Women has decades’ long investments in strengthening women’s leadership in the public and private sector, leveraging women’s key role as drivers of economic growth, fostering greater support for women’s rights to live free from violence, and enhancing support for their paid and unpaid care contributions. These areas of advancement are crucial if we are to see sustainable livelihoods in this changing planet. 

Women’s and girls’ equal participation and leadership in developing environmental and disaster risk reduction policies should be enhanced to ensure effective responses . Research shows that countries with more women in parliament and with more women involved in managing local natural resources often result in the adoption of stricter national climate change policies resulting in lower emissions and tends to lead to more equitable and inclusive local resource governance and better local conservation outcomes. Embedded within the policy agenda, it is important to improve gender statistics and sex disaggregated data in the gender-environment nexus and significant investments at all levels are needed in this regard.

Gender-responsive financing and robust data and statistics are key. While billions of dollars flow to environmental issues, a tiny fraction addresses gender and far less targets the climate-gender nexus. Globally, 2020 was a record-breaking year for the Green, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked bond market, with total issuances exceeding US$600 billion. However, less than 1% of this market is aligned with women’s empowerment objectives. Diverse financial instruments can provide accessible, affordable funding to women’s enterprises and cooperatives. Global, national and subnational environmental grants should include conditions and reporting requirements tailored to women’s organizations.

It is  essential to ensure women’s access to essential services and social protection during climate-related crises, including access to nationally-mandated sexual and reproductive health and rights and to ensured access to essential prevention, response and recovery services for those experiencing gender-based violence. Of equal importance is the need to strengthen universal gender-responsive social protection and care systems so as to protect against the disproportionate impacts of climate change and to bolster the resilience of women and communities.

Sustainable solutions require s strengthened acknowledgement and investment in women. Agriculture contributes to 11.3% of Egypt’s gross domestic product and is the largest employer of women (45% of the agricultural workforce) ( FAO ). Given the key role they play in this sector, ensuring women’s role and voice in sustainable solutions is just smart business sense. This includes sustainable agricultural approaches, such as agroecology, supporting gender-responsive climate-resilient livelihoods and food sovereignty, and building on scientific and local knowledge and practices to sustain diversity. Expanding decentralized sustainable energy solutions in areas unserved by national electricity grids would significantly benefit the livelihoods and resilience of women and girls and reduce their unpaid care and domestic work.

Private sector engagement on dynamic, gender-responsive approaches is key for transitioning into green and blue economies. This includes financing innovative climate services and adaptation technologies, mobilizing technical capacities, supporting novel financing strategies targeting energy efficiency, promoting green jobs, and leveraging governmental efforts in positioning resilience and adaptation as top priorities.

Linked to this, strengthened investment in closing the global gender digital divide – and gaps in access to education, information and skills – facilitates equal access to risk-informed knowledge, communications, forecasting and preparedness , including early warning systems. In Egypt and worldwide, there is a need for enhancing capacity-building, education and awareness-raising among labour-market stakeholders on climate response actions and sustainability solutions.

Worldwide, it  is important to build the resilience of women’s organizations to ensure they can anticipate and effectively respond to climate and environment disasters. Governments collaborating with women’s organizations can help ensure that national climate policies meet the specific needs of women and girls and are effectively implemented and can contribute to building climate resilience at the local level.

Throughout Africa, women’s voice and leadership has been a key driver of climate change successes in recent years. Egypt’s presidency of COP27 gives opportunity to highlight these gains and leverage strengthened global commitment to increasing and ensuring a more gender-equal approach towards climate, environment, and disaster risk reduction.

Read in Arabic .

• About UN Women
• Executive Director
• UN Women in Egypt
• Country Representative
• Guiding documents
• Report wrongdoing
• Call for Proposals
• Request For Proposals (RFPs)
• Diversifying suppliers to support women entrepreneurs
• Enhancing women’s empowerment for sustainable growth
• Expanding banking services, savings and loans for rural women
• Promoting productive employment and decent work
• Innovative Financing and Gender Responsive Budgeting
• National Citizenship Initiative
• Private Sector’s support of the Women’s Empowerment Principles
• Women and the Care Economy
• Safe Cities programme
• Prevention and Access to Essential Services to End Violence against Women and Girls
• Elminating female genital mutilation (FGM) programme
• Confronting pandemic-related violence against women
• Survivor centre integrated approach
• Women's access to justice
• Tackling violence against women in the time of COVID-19
• Women, peace and security, and Humanitarian support
• Men and Women for Gender Equality
• Confronting gender discrimination in education
• Economic empowerment
• Ending violence against women
• UN system coordination
• Civil society
• International partners
• National partners
• Publications

• Search Menu
• Sign in through your institution
• Advance articles
• Editor's Choice
• Author Guidelines
• Submission Site
• Open Access
• Why Submit?
• About Social Politics
• Editorial Board
• Advertising and Corporate Services
• Journals Career Network
• Self-Archiving Policy
• Dispatch Dates
• Journals on Oxford Academic
• Books on Oxford Academic

Article Contents

Introduction, gender and constitution in egypt: a historical context, egypt’s post-revolution roadmap, contextualizing the actors, constitutions, equality, and gendered citizenship, post-revolutionary visions of constitutional and legal equality, implementing constitutional equality in national law, concluding remarks, acknowledgments.

• < Previous

Navigating Human Rights, Feminism, and History: Egyptian Feminist Activists’ Demands for Constitutional Equality, 2012–2014

• Article contents
• Figures & tables
• Supplementary Data

Emma Sundkvist, Navigating Human Rights, Feminism, and History: Egyptian Feminist Activists’ Demands for Constitutional Equality, 2012–2014, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society , Volume 30, Issue 1, Spring 2023, Pages 47–68, https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxac021

• Permissions Icon Permissions

This article analyzes the efforts of Egyptian feminist activists to insert gender equality in the country’s post-revolutionary constitutions in 2012 and 2014. While the literature on women’s political role during this period provides insights into exclusionary gender practices and conditions for bargaining power structures, this study contributes with a conceptual analysis of how feminist activists construed constitutional gender equality. The study is based on interviews with, and written statements by, activists engaged in the constitutional process. The article argues that these activists viewed the constitution as a central instrument in the struggle for gender equality and demanded a gender equality model beyond the sameness/difference paradigm. Instead, they argued for a substantive notion of gender equality that reflected women’s situated experiences while they, at the same time, navigated the legacies of Egypt’s earlier constitutions.

After the 25 January revolution in Egypt in 2011, rewriting the constitution was regarded as a vital step toward a new Egypt. The feminists who had played an active role in the uprising became central actors in this process. A coalition of seventeen feminist organizations was established, and ensuring women’s constitutional rights was a top priority. The coalition started the independent Women & Constitution Working Group (WCWG), consisting of activists, lawyers, and academic professionals, with the aim of inserting women’s rights into the constitution. Most research into the constitutional process has analyzed the exclusionary gender practices and revealed the power dynamics of the deeply militarized and patriarchal context of the revolution’s aftermath ( Hafez 2014 ; Tadros 2016 , 2019 ). For example, Morsy (2014) focuses on the activists’ determined mobilization against the constitution in 2012, while Tadros (2019) analyzes the interface between ideology, gender identities, and coalitional politics related to the constitutions of 2012 and 2014. Kamal (2015) discusses the WCWG’s focus and priorities and points to its significant demand to oblige the state to ensure women’s parity in government and governance. Tolino (2018) locates the process in a historical perspective and raised the radically different outcomes of the 2012 and 2014 constitutions.

These studies add significant perspectives on the historical, political, and structural conditions for inserting constitutional gender equality in Egypt post-2011. However, gender equality is less theorized. In contrast, this article contributes with a conceptual analysis of feminist activists’ understanding of gender equality during the constitution-writing process. The article asks how activists defined and construed gender equality and what function their conceptualization would have for improving women’s constitutional rights. After the Arab Spring, conceptualizing gender equality became urgent in countries beyond Egypt. In Tunis, Article 28 of the new constitution stated that women were complementary (instead of equal) to men. Women’s rights groups responded by mobilizing against this formulation and insisted that gender equality be explicitly articulated in the constitution ( Charrad and Zarrugh 2014 ; Hitman 2018 ; Houssi 2018 ). In Morocco, feminist activists tried to expand the concerns of gender equality to include activism for democracy and justice ( Salime 2012 ). Studies of the Tunisian and Moroccan cases show that conflicting liberal, secular, and religious discourses influenced this period’s rapidly changing political climate, which stimulated theoretical discussions of gender equality within women’s human rights activism and generated immense confidence among activists in legal documents as a tool for political and social change. In what follows, I show how such discussions and underlying trust in legal reform played out in an Egyptian feminist context.

The study understands gender equality as a malleable concept that, when implemented in national constitutions, can be filled with rather disparate meanings ( Bell 2004 ; Fineman 2011 ; Hunter 2008 ; MacKinnon 2006 ; Walby 2004 ; Williams 2009 ). Therefore, the ideology and frames of reference on which women’s activism relies are highly significant in understanding the engendering of constitutions. Gender equality connects to principled questions of formal versus substantive equality and the long-standing discussion of gender equality as an issue of women’s sameness or difference to men in relevant aspects (and therefore have either identical or different rights in order to be equal).

The study is based on a combination of interviews and text analysis and draws from grounded theory method. During two fieldwork trips to Cairo in 2013 and 2015, I conducted twenty interviews with feminist activists, of whom three were members of the WCWG (a total of eight members). Further, my source material includes documents produced by the working group and a large body of public statements about the constitution-writing process published online by the organizations I visited. Many publications and statements were produced jointly by NGOs that were part of the Coalition of Feminist Organizations (CFO).

The research began by interviewing activists without predefined research questions or ground theories. In my coding of the interview material, gender equality emerged as a central concept concerning the constitution. I read and coded the written material to analyze how “gender equality” was defined by looking at what function the concept was argued to have in relation to different issues, situations, and women's everyday lives. Combined with a thorough literature review, I identified a discussion of different models of gender equality within the activists’ argumentation. During my second research trip, I aimed to conduct “further interviewees/sources of data in order to add to the fullness of the understanding of the concept” ( Cutcliffe 2000 , 1477). I conducted semi-structured interviews with “significant individuals” for a rigid exploration of gender equality and its different models ( Baker, Wuest, and Stern 1992 ). Finally, in the coding of these interviews, the substantive model of equality became clear, however, with close attention to the historical factors and human rights language that feminists had to navigate to pursue their goal.

I begin by providing a brief historical background of gender and constitutions in Egypt, followed by outlining the period after President Mubarak was ousted and the specific conditions for women’s organizations in Egypt. I thereafter discuss theoretical conceptions of gender equality and how these relate to international human rights treaties. The presentation of the empirical study starts with the results and analysis of the activists’ work during the constitutional writing process in 2012–2013. It then highlights their attempts to make national legislation reflect the definition of gender equality in the constitution of 2014.

Egyptian women’s request for constitutional rights can be traced back to the 1920s, when the struggle for independence from British rule intensified. The constitutional draft was accepted in 1923 and recognized only adult male citizens as members of the state, based on cross-religious national unity ( Hatem 2000 ).

The 1956 constitution articulated equality between women and men through Article 31: “Egyptians shall be equal before the law in public rights and duties, with no discrimination among them therein on the grounds of sex, origin, language, religion or creed.” President Nasser increased women’s public role by implementing their right to be elected in political councils, attend university, work, equal pay, and contraception. However, family laws were lagging behind the new constitutional rights, which created a somewhat paradoxical situation for women as simultaneously public figures and the cornerstone of the family as the caregiving mother and wife ( Bier 2011 ; Hatem 1992 ).

Anwar Sadat, Nasser's successor, founded the constitution of 1971. It raised women’s legal status in marriage and gave women greater representation in parliament. On the other hand, the constitution reinstated religion as one of the family’s pillars, alongside nationalism and morality. Article 11 of the 1971 constitution admittedly stated women’s equality with men in political, social, cultural, and economic life, but only as long as it did not violate the rules of Islamic jurisprudence or threaten the balance with her family duties ( Hatem 1992 ).

The 1971 constitution has been reformed several times but remained in force until the revolution in 2011. In 2007, President Mubarak reformed Article 64 of the constitution and introduced the quota system, which passed a law mandating sixty-four new women-only seats in parliament. Tadros (2010) discusses the broad critique against this reform among feminists who saw the reform as tailored to limit the prospects of nonruling-party candidates winning. The 1971 constitution included the concept of equality for women, and the reformed constitution had improved (some) women’s opportunities for political participation. However, the idea that a woman’s role in society would not challenge her role in the family and as a mother remained stable.

When Mubarak left office in 2011, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) laid out what most Egyptians thought would be a rapid transition to civilian rule. After ousting President Mubarak, the debate over the constitutional process concerned whether or not the constitution from 1971 should be retrieved or exchanged for a new constitution. The revolutionary groups, as well as women’s rights groups, demanded the annulment of the constitution. Kamal (2015) argues that favoring a rewritten constitution comes from Egyptians’ idea of a revolution as not only the ousting of a president but of his entire regime, including its supreme constitutional text. Hence, the only way of building a society that would reflect the spirit of the revolution was to abandon the 1971 constitution.

The SCAF, strongly supported by Islamist actors, decided to hold parliamentary elections at the end of 2011 before writing a new constitution. The Muslim Brotherhood saw its advantage over other political parties as it was the only actor with substantial experience in Egyptian politics and maintained considerable popular support ( Farag 2013 ). After the revolution, the Brotherhood started its political Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). Given the short time between Mubarak’s fall and the election—during which competing parties failed to get the same support—the FJP won a majority of seats in parliament, with three different Salafist parties, Al-Nour, Al-Asala, and Al-Fadhila, holding the second strongest position. The 2012 Constitutional Writing Committee members, elected by the parliament, represented these different streams of political Islam. In June 2012, Mohamed Morsi from the FJP won the first post-revolution presidential election. Although many Western analysts considered the election democratic, the election was seen domestically as an authoritarian process imposed amid the ongoing revolution ( Tadros 2016 ). For instance, revolutionary groups’ ongoing dissatisfaction over the treatment of victims during the revolution’s first phase (e.g., military court trials of civilians) was met with continuing violence from the security forces ( Hafez 2014 ).

In June 2013, the military ousted Morsi (millions of people had demonstrated to demand his resignation). The following period was tense and violent, not least when the police and military forces under General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s command raided two camps of Morsi supporters and killed at least 800 people, known as the Rabaa massacre ( Human Rights Watch 2014 ). The disposal of Morsi and the SCAF’s return to authoritative power escalated tension and highlighted polarizing attitudes within activist groups ( Allam 2018 ; Tadros 2016 ). Rennick (2018) claims this period’s main issue emerged over the question of which groups were true revolutionaries. Rennick contends that the discourse polarized since it forced Egyptians to choose sides. Either you were in favor of the security forces’ ousting of the Brotherhood, despite their methods (2013 massacre), or you were with the Islamists.

The SCAF set up a new Constitutional Committee to revise the constitution again. In the context of rapidly changing conditions in terms of committee constellations and political climate, the feminist organizations operated within specific constraints for women’s rights work in Egypt, as the next section reveals.

The five central NGOs studied here were among the seventeen women’s rights organizations that created the CFO after January 2011. One of these organizations, the Women and Memory Forum (WMF), is a center for academics, activists, and researchers that provides alternative historical writings to better account for Arab women’s perspectives. The WMF initiated the WCWG, which also included lawyers and researchers from Nazra for Feminist Studies (Nazra). Nazra aims to build a feminist movement around Egyptian women’s daily issues and experiences. Other organizations affiliated with the CFO are the Center for Egyptian Legal Assistance (CEWLA), El-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of the Victims of Violence (El-Nadeem), and the New Woman Foundation (NWF). All adopt the terminology of human rights and use the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women (CEDAW) as their primary frame of reference while at the same time working closely with progressive religious scholars on gender issues. The members are mostly highly educated, English-speaking professionals with experience from international forums and conferences. WCWG met continuously from 2011 to 2014. Their work with the constitution will be discussed in more detail in the empirical section.

Since 1980, when NGO activism became the dominant way of pursuing women's rights in Egypt, organizations have been strictly regulated by laws and policies from Nasser’s rule in the 1950s. Under the Mubarak regime, civil society organizations worked under the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Justice supervision (MoSSJ). Civil society actors have thus been allowed to operate under the imminent threat of being dissolved and having their licences revoked if these organizations engage in political or religious activities. The influence of the Mubarak regime’s power on civil society organizations and the apparent arbitrariness with which organizations are allowed to operate has to a great extent contributed to the professionalization of the traditional voluntary sector ( Al-Ali 2000 ).

Since the revolution, the Egyptian regime has intensified its crackdown on human rights and feminist groups and organizations. For example, in 2011, the interim government opened case No. 173, also known as the “foreign funding case” from Mubarak’s time, accusing around forty NGOs of receiving illegal foreign funding. Many NGOs were also indicted for operating illegal activities, and the security forces raided many organizations’ offices to document their activities. Since then, the regime has detained and pressed charges against hundreds of NGO workers, several of whom are banned from leaving the country and have their assets frozen. Since 2014, under President el-Sisi, the control over NGOs has become even stricter than before by inhibiting the work of NGOs by blocking payments to organizations from international donors, arresting their members, or closing entire organizations. Since 2016, El-Nadeem and Nazra have been shut down and are forbidden to run any organizational work. The organization Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) is still operating but under strict surveillance, and several of its directors have been detained or put on trial.

Nevertheless, many NGOs manage to continue their gender and feminist resistance on a small scale, even if it is more about mobilizing feminist ideas than people ( Alvarez 2009 ). The bottom line is that NGO activism in Egypt—depending on the political condition—can move from a project-centered and result-driven logic to one more fluid, open-ended, and process-oriented ( Alvarez 2009 , 179).

Moreover, NGOs are trapped in the highly debated civil society terrain characterized by cultural authenticity and Western imperialism due to the postcolonial context. NGOs that draw from norms and principles with the resonances of a global feminist agenda are easily accused of seeking to implement a Western model of gender equality without anchoring it in Egyptian society ( El-Mahdi 2010 ). In her research of the short-lived movement Women for Democracy, El-Mahdi shows that the focus on categorizing and accusing each other of being either too Western or too conservative, too radical or pro-regime, created great divisions among the activists, which made it difficult to formulate a common agenda. I reveal how the navigation between the global and the local, past and future became significant for the feminists in their work of demanding constitutional gender equality, manifested in their attempts at building on previous constitutional references to equality when integrating principles found in international principles of the same.

Gender equality as a constitutional right exists in many countries even when discriminatory laws are firmly in place. While a constitution can be more or less productive in what it says, Helen Irving (2009) maintains that a constitutional right provision needs to work in tandem with other institutions and processes. She identifies “constitutional opportunity structures” as “the institutions, processes, structured relationships, and offices that create opportunities or openings for women to take part in collective decision making or government” ( Irving 2009 , 78). Such constitutional opportunity structures include how countries elect members of representative bodies and what electoral systems and policies regulate those bodies. A constitution’s provision for gender equality can create opportunities for reviewing or restructuring other institutions and processes in an effort to enforce gender equality in public offices and vice versa. The concept enables a critical understanding of activists’ great concern and constant criticism of women’s restricted participation in the constitutional process and the effect of their absence from it. Before I analyze their conceptual understanding of gender equality in these discussions, I will briefly outline some theoretical debates around gender equality.

Formal Equality: Sameness and Difference

Feminist literature criticizes formal guarantees of equal opportunity for women for their limited ability to address the structural foundations of gender injustice ( Becker 1999 ; L’Heureux-Dube 2000 ; Majury 1987 ; Williams 2009 ). To better understand the grounds on which the activists in my study questioned this approach to equality model wherein men decide when, where, and how women are mentioned in constitutions—often as dependent citizens in need of protection, Catharine MacKinnon’s (1987 , 2006 ) discussion of the predominant understanding of equality as a question of sameness and difference is helpful. On the sameness standard, women are provided with access to whatever men already have, through the erasure of direct impediments and legal obstacles, after which change is expected to happen.

A conceptualization of equality based on difference means that women are regarded as different from men but still need to meet the male standard for women ( MacKinnon 1987 ). To be equal (to men), women must first prove their difference from men (as defined by men) so that the impact of women’s distinctiveness can then be reduced. This conceptualization of equality provides an understanding of the activists’ rejection of equality based on difference.

A central framework for the feminist activists was provided by the international treaties of human rights, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the CEDAW. Important to note, however, is that the UDHR provides one example of the sameness/difference conception at play. As feminist research has pointed out, the UDHR derives from a male perspective and asserts formal equality between men and women by banning discrimination. However, it makes no provisions regarding women’s gendered experiences or affirmative action ( Otto 2006 ). Women are mentioned in Articles 16 and 25 but only as wives, mothers, and child-bearers in need of male protection. The UDHR describes the family as the “natural and fundamental group unit of society,” which reproduces a barrier between the political public sphere (where human rights operate) and the unpolitical private sphere (which is exempted) ( Otto 2006 ; Parisi 2002 ; Saksena 2007 ). Except for motherhood, the UDHR emphasizes “sameness”; it does not recognize or address men’s and women’s qualitatively different experiences, nor does it provide tools for challenging structures that perpetuate gender hierarchies. While the sameness/difference conceptions are rather different ways of understanding gender equality, they unite in their failure to recognize political relations and capture structural discriminatory practices. The UDHR developed after the Second World War before the international feminist movement began to challenge the conceptualization of gender equality. By contrast, the CEDAW is the result of vocal and vivid women’s rights activism, thus moving beyond formal equality and providing a substantive basis for gender equality.

Substantive Equality: A Non-domination Conception

Conceptions of substantive equality proceed from an analysis of society, law, and institutions as discriminatory; such conceptions reject the gender-blind assumption that no power dimensions rank groups in society or create hierarchies and different starting points for women and men ( Fineman 2011 ). Substantive equality recognizes that formal equality conceals and presents male dominance as neutral in a state where men’s experiences have shaped all institutions ( MacKinnon 1987 ). The non-domination conception of substantive equality requires sanctions to be enacted to correct this imbalance of structural inequality (e.g., quotas or affirmative action) and allows for people to be treated differently on the basis of gender and does not violate equality given that the outcome—an equal representation of women and men—is what counts ( Williams 2009 ).

The CEDAW begins with the perspective that women are discriminated against based on their sex. The CEDAW’s Articles 1 and 2 call for eliminating all forms of discrimination against women that lead to an infringement of their human rights. The CEDAW defines discrimination as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex,” which indicates a human rights approach with actual potential for combating gender hierarchies and male dominance, as opposed to the UDHR in which an equal treatment norm prevails ( Holtmaat 2013 ). Article 2 obligates states to take “all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs, and practices that constitute discrimination against women,” which allows for using affirmative action in order to come to terms with the deep structural factors that produce gender hierarchies. The activists in my study demanded that the Egyptian state incorporate international human rights treaties. As I will demonstrate in the coming sections, conceptualizing gender equality in accordance with the CEDAW best corresponded to their understanding of women’s constitutional rights.

The following three sections present and analyze my empirical material. I begin by analyzing the activists’ interventions during the process of writing the two new constitutions in 2011–2013 and then examine their attempts to have the constitutional articles reflected in national law in 2014. First, however, I briefly outline the two political contexts under which these two constitutions were processed and adopted since they differ in the political leadership’s ideology and the compilation of the constituent assembly.

As stated above, the 2012 constitution was written in a formal political context highly dominated by the rise of political Islamist parties. They were in the majority in the government and comprised about 50 percent of the members in the constitution assembly. Seven out of a hundred assembly members were women. After the Nubian activist Nabal el Tibi resigned in protest against the nonexisting commitment of securing women’s rights, and was replaced by Suzie Adly, none had a record of being in favor of women’s human rights ( Tadros 2019 ) as referenced by the CFO or the WCWG. The other members were Hoda Ghaniyya, Omayma Kamel, and Um Ayman, affiliated with the Freedom and Justice Party, Amany Abou el Fadl, an Islamist thinker and NGO activist, Manar el Shorbagy, a political science professor, Shahira Doss, a member of the right-wing Wafd party, and Soad Kamel Rizk from the French University in Egypt.

In 2013, the Morsi government was ousted, and a new roadmap, including writing a new constitution, was established. The constitution assembly now contained fifty members, five of whom were women, and members from Islamist parties were reduced to six. While the representation of women only improved marginally from 2012, this assembly differed concerning women’s rights. Four of these female members were known as great champions of women’s rights and thus potential allies of the feminist groups. Among them were former members of the National Council for Women, the National Council for Motherhood, the National Council for Human Rights, and Hoda Elsadda, a university professor and the founder of Women and Memory Forum. However, the military’s ousting of President Morsi, and its significant impact on the roadmap, had created tensions among the women’s rights groups in deciding whether to align with the regime or not. While some rejected the process altogether, others saw no other option than to continue engaging to protect women’s rights ( Kamal 2015 ).

Gender Equality in the 2012 Constitution

The WCWG emerged to monitor the constitution-writing process independently. The group gathered activists from organizations within the CFO as well as individual feminists, academics, and lawyers. The WCWG produced two central documents in 2012: one on their working method and procedure and one containing a list of “Suggested Constitutional Articles,” which they handed over to the constitution-writing committee. Working group members gave me these documents, which became an important part of my data. In addition to the documents of method and suggested articles, various feminist organizations connected to the WCWG signed multiple statements and public letters and included comments on, and recommendations for, the draft of both the 2012 and 2013 constitutions. In reading this material, I paid close attention to how activists conceptualized and discussed gender equality.

We decided to start reading some constitutions of the world, but it was important for us as a general rule to build our arguments on our own constitutional history. And it is a much better strategic move as well. … We decided that it would be much more powerful as an argument to say that we want such and such item, because it builds on the items in the 1923 constitution than to say this is item 30 in the German constitution. (Interview with Kamal 2015 )

All citizens are equal before the law, they are equal in rights and freedoms and public duties, and the State shall guarantee equal opportunities for all of them in all areas, and may take legislative or other measures for the protection of persons or particular groups for the advancement of their situation. (WCWG 2011)

Criminalizes discrimination against any citizen or a citizen on grounds of sex, race, color, language, religion or belief, marital status or pregnancy, and discrimination in all its forms is a crime with no statute of limitations. (WCWG 2011)

Compared to earlier Egyptian constitutions, these suggested formulations kept the equality concept, but expanded it to include detailed grounds for discrimination as well as criminalizing discrimination. The activists stated that the South African constitution inspired them, listing seventeen grounds for discrimination, including gender, social origin, pregnancy, age, disability, and culture.

Gender equality for me, there are two points. I think the literal meaning is identical rights. But I think there is another point that is more important. Equity. If you have underprivileged people in society, this group need more privileges. I do not stop at equality. I raise the question to what extent equality as a rule is sufficient for women that provide them with their rights. (Interview with Kamal 2015 )

Maissan Hassan, also a member of WMF and the working group, explained that the rationale for demanding a quota system was to guarantee women’s political representation in Egypt. She saw the quota as vital since women would otherwise have no chance to enter formal politics (interview with Hassan, 2013).

On December 4, 2012, after the last constitutional draft passed the constitutional committee poll, Nazra, in which two of the writing group members were active, criticized in a statement on their website how the constitution framed gender equality ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2012) . They noted that the 2012 constitution mentions equality five times—e.g., Article 33 in the Rights and Freedom section: “The citizens enjoy equality before the law. They have identical rights and public duties. There is no discrimination among them”—but never in relation to women or gender. Nazra expressed concerns that the committee had rejected all presented suggestions from the WCWG and the feminist coalition. The group said that the absence of an article addressing various forms of gender inequality, e.g., within economic, political, social, and cultural fields, “prevents the existence of an article guaranteeing the right to equality in the Constitution of Egypt” ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2012) . Women’s issues were not articulated at all. The constitution only referred to women as being in need of care, as in Article 10 in Societal and Moral Elements: “The state provides special protections for female breadwinners, divorced women, and widows.” This article was not unique to the 2012 constitution—it derived directly from the 1956 constitution (Article 18) and from the 1971 constitution (Article 10), which also called for supporting the family and protecting motherhood and childhood. Nazra asserted that while the constitution reflected the state’s commitment to maternal and child services, it failed to recognize women’s rights to reproductive health. The constitution neither adopted an electoral system to guarantee women’s effective participation. In sum, Nazra observed that the constitution contained no articulation of women’s equal rights in public and private life. These deficits led Nazra to conclude that the constitution failed to provide women with any assurances regarding gender equality.

Nazra developed its critique in another text, published on their website six months later. The group presented recommendations to the new constitutional committee ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2013 ). They again raised concern over Article 33, which—by ignoring gender and grounds of discrimination—presented a false picture of reality. The provision seemed to wrongly assume that women and men were already equal before the law in Egypt and would therefore be ineffective in securing gender equality ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2013 ). The NWF and Nazra demanded that equality be linked to discrimination and that the grounds of discrimination be explicitly articulated. This demand connects to arguments in feminist theory that constitutional and legal texts need to challenge reality by spelling out the injustices that marginalized groups experience.

as if Egyptian women are always in need of care ignoring that they are equal partners to men. Women's issues were restricted to traditional moral frameworks according to which patriarchal societies agreed to define women's roles. ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2013 )

Nazra rejected affirmative action based on difference as understood within the sameness/difference conception of gender equality. The constitution invoked the rhetoric of gender difference when referring to women always in need of protection, and Nazra’s critique corresponds to the feminist critique that within the difference conception of gender equality, to be equal, women must first prove their difference from men (as defined by men), so that the impact of women’s distinctiveness can then be reduced. The difference approach to equality can also explain why women were not mentioned except that they need protection: if women fail to present themselves as men define them, they must live up to a male standard or prove their equality with men. The activists’ reasoning corresponds to the idea that the hierarchal structures of society ground a perception of women as different.

The WCWG’s method document stated that the organization adopted a feminist approach, which includes reviewing the language used in the constitution as well as dismantling traditional gender roles and the link between women, motherhood, and children in the coming constitution. This method aimed to change the traditional relation between women’s role in family and society adopted in the 1971 constitution. Maissan Hassan further explained that they raised the issue of how to include both men and women in words such as citizen, which in the Arabic language is either masculine or feminine. To get around this, a clause, in the beginning, could mention that citizens always include both men and women (interview with Hassan 2013). Hala Kamal explained that feminizing the language was part of the primary method of gender mainstreaming the constitution. Kamal recalled the discussions behind the method of gender mainstreaming in contrast to one constitutional article addressing women’s rights. “We decided as a group that we wanted to … involve women in each and every item” (interview with Kamal 2015 ). This use of gender mainstreaming needs to be understood in relation to the activists’ general conceptualization of gender equality. While gender mainstreaming implies significant changes to institutions, it can be based on a variety of visions or models of gender equality ( Walby 2004 ). According to Rees (1998) , it is only when gender equality is understood as a means of transforming gender roles for both men and women that gender mainstreaming can deliver gender justice, which corresponds to the WCWG members’ understanding of gender equality.

Gender Equality in the 2014 Constitution

We had support from older feminists, they are always happy we exist. They can criticize us but never say that they are better than us. The older women could do bad things to us, but they really supported us in a way. And Nazra was the first group after this generation. (Interview with Hassan 2015)

Research reveals that under the Morsi regime, women’s rights were under serious threats underpinned by conservative religious discourses, which led activists concerned with gender issues to seek greater unity ( Allam 2018 ; Tadros 2016 ). Mozn Hassan continued that she does not favor hardcore secular feminists either and referenced the Tunisian participants at a conference in Tunis that we both had attended: “All they do is create tensions between different groups of women, it feels like I’m dealing with Mubarak’s old state feminism.”

A few days later, at Nazra’s office, I met Mozn Hassan and Salma el-Naqqash, a lawyer and member of the writing group. They maintained that religion is not necessarily an issue per se and that they have no problem collaborating with Islamic feminists over questions where their standpoints intersect. However, they stressed that the Islamist female members of the constitution committee adopted a conservative reading of Islamic texts. Therefore, to Hassan and el-Naqqsh, it is important not to equate Islamic feminists with the Islamist female members of the committee (interview with Hassan and el-Naqqash 2013). For instance, the female members of the Islamist bloc rejected suggestions to enforce gender equality in relation to inheritance, marriage, and divorce and supported men’s right to marry several wives. They also regretted that Egypt signed the CEDAW, although with reservations to Articles 2 and 9, since it violates sharia ( Tadros 2019 ).

The Islamic feminists they refer to are part of an intellectual and academic movement that often argues for the reinterpretation of sacred texts, especially regarding marriage and women’s rights to divorce, from a woman’s perspective. However, the female members of the Islamist parties did not draw on this influential work but a conservative reading of sacred texts. Tadros (2019) highlights that Islamic feminist perspectives from Egyptian female scholars that have advanced women’s rights via Islamic precepts were not involved in the constitution-writing discussions, which she believes could have pointed to a division between academic debates and the political power struggles at play.

The unity among feminists prevalent during Morsi’s regime became somehow disturbed after his ousting. The main reason for tensions was how to relate to the SCAF’s authoritative power and its methods in confronting Morsi supporters, which also affected feminists’ approach to the constitution of 2014 ( Tadros 2016 ; Kamal 2015 ). Kamal revealed that feminists were divided about whether or not to vote in the constitutional referendum since it proceeded under the rule of the SCAF and included items that strengthened the power of the military. Some argued that women’s rights could not trump that the constitution allowed civilians military trials and granted economic power to the military ( Kamal 2015 ).

The constitutional committee in 2013 was supposed to offer a more just representation of society than the one in 2012. Nevertheless, the SCAF retained the right to veto any suggestions that conflicted with how they defined the revolution’s goals, causing several political parties on the liberal/left side to boycott the committee. Of the fifty members of this new committee, five were women, and four of those were gender equality advocates ( Tadros 2016 ). Tadros (2019) reveals how radically different the environment for gender equality was in the constitutional committee of 2013 compared to 2012 due to the female representatives’ political ideology. According to the activists within the working group I have interviewed, the fact that the activists had potential collaborators on the inside of the committee placed the women’s rights question in a more promising light and resulted in substantial improvements.

1971 constitution is not articulated in the same manner as the current constitution. Meaning that in the 1971 it is more about how the state dealing with women, finding an equal relation between her role in the family and the public sphere …. But the current article 11, women’s equality is mentioned more in an outspoken manner. It says they are entitled to public office, juridical positions, and being represented in elected council so it is sort of having a connection to gender equality to representation and in the political sphere, and in the public space. (Interview with el-Naqqash 2015)

Activists regarded the revisions of Article 11 as a political success since these included several passages that the WCWG had been developing as long ago as 2012. However, the working groups’ demand that “the State shall promote women’s rights through policies and mechanisms of positive discrimination” was not included. Tadros’s research reveals that a prevalent divisive issue within the constitutional committee was regarding a quota system. Even among distinguished liberals, the resistance against women’s rights and a quota system was strong. The female members of the committee who constantly championed women’s rights had to create alliances with those liberals who were on an equal stand with the feminists ( Tadros 2016 ). As the next section explores, the constitution was promising but somewhat vague in its articulations of means for realizing gender equality, and it did not guarantee women the opportunity to enter formal politics.

… this time the constitution writers actually, intentionally, I would believe because of the powerful women who were part of the committee, decided to put clear terms on what women’s equality means. As soon as we have legislations in place and these legislations are based on such constitutional entitlements, then there should be quite a big difference in terms of achieving gender equality. (Interview with el-Naqqash 2015)

The absence of a constitutional women’s quota and the low number of women in legislative bodies became urgent. While the two constitutional processes show the significance of the gender interest among women inside the constitutional committee (see Tadros 2019 for details), the activists viewed the low numbers of women in parliament as one of the reasons why the 2012 committee entirely rejected their suggested gender equality model, and the 2013 committee did not fully guarantee women’s political representation. The activists’ analysis of the impact of the low number of women indicates their insights into the significance of “constitutional structures opportunity” ( Irving 2009 ), which recognizes that challenges to gender equality are at play during all stages of implementing a constitutional provision. The implementing stages include candidates running for and being elected to the committee, the process of the committee writing a draft, and the policy for a potential referendum and election. The low numbers of women, especially women’s rights promoters, in political positions in Egypt affected women’s potential to negotiate gender issues in both the constitution writing and approval processes.

While women’s absence in formal politics is not new, the critique grew more intense after 2011. The activists explicitly demanded that the state take responsibility for ensuring parity between women and men in different political councils. After the constitution of 2014 was in place, the WCWG and other women’s groups now referred to its Article 11. They campaigned that a women’s quota should be included in policies regulating elections since an appropriate representation of women is a constitutional right ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2014a ).

In February 2014, several organizations signed a statement to Egypt’s House of Representatives urging that the forthcoming election be regulated to satisfy the constitutional right to appropriate representation stipulated in Article 11 ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2014a ). The activists’ critique of the election law focused on the majority system in which 420 parliamentary seats would go to individual candidates and 120 to closed party lists. The list of candidates that gained the absolute majority of votes within an electoral district would win all the seats in that district. This system would put individual candidates at a disadvantage, as they would be required to form political coalitions. What would constitute an appropriate number of women in parliament or party lists remains unclear, but the activists knew that a quota system alone could not solve women’s political representation.

The activists cite the quota as an essential but potentially double-edged sword. Mozn Hassan from Nazra expressed concern that the debate on women’s political representation is dominated by the idea that a quota will solve every problem (Interview with Hassan 2013). She referred to the Egyptian professor Mariz Tadros (2010) , who points out the limited potential of a gender quota in an authoritarian system that marginalizes the majority of the Egyptian people. Hassan argued that gender equality must be sensitive to the Egyptian reality in which women’s chances to enter office are restricted at many levels. The quota system is one of many needed interventions.

In another statement, the activists argued that the election law would limit women’s chances to be included on election lists and thus to be elected at all. They claimed that the law would deprive the less-empowered female candidates of any chance of securing a majority of votes ( Nazra for Feminist Studies 2014b ). Pointing to Article 11, the activists urged the electoral coalitions to form a dialogue with women’s organizations in order to avoid treating women as a unified block, include women in the coalitions, and put women’s issues on their agenda. The activists said women share some experiences as women but argued about the importance of recognizing women’s different class, social, political, and cultural backgrounds since such factors fundamentally set the conditions for Egyptians who want to engage in formal politics. The activists’ arguments follow Tadros’s analysis of the deeply unjust electoral system, stressing that besides the quota question, a political system should allow women to have a chance of becoming elected, regardless of their background.

The debate over how the electoral system discriminates against women as a group and women from different life paths underlies the activists’ belief that constitutional gender equality must constantly be interpreted and followed up. The activists reasoned in terms of Irving’s “constitutional opportunity structures” ( Irving 2009 ) that instituting gender equality in a constitution can open up other institutions and processes for review in an effort to move toward enforcing gender equality in public offices. Without the constitutional provision of a gender quota, in written statements, activists referred to the phrase in Article 11 stating that state commits to taking the necessary measures to ensure appropriate representation of women in the houses of parliament.

The activists’ understanding of how regulations work in reality shows that the concept of gender equality cannot be blind to the structural obstacles blocking women’s opportunities for political participation and support. The formal gender equality model of only ensuring identical rights and opportunities for all falls short. Thus, the election procedure needs to make targeted interventions in order to achieve an outcome that includes women in the process. These interventions count for policy regulations in terms of the proportion between individual candidates and closed party lists, as well as quota systems that create pathways to formal power for women. In addition, other forms of affirmative action can help ensure women’s access to spaces of political decision-making. The activists conceptualized gender equality as requiring compensation for these structural inequalities, which are economically, socially, and culturally grounded, and are not due to any natural differences between women and men. Gender equality should be measured against reality, women’s subordinate situation should be recognized, and, as compensation for this, affirmative action policies can help move systems toward substantive equality.

The results allow for three main conclusions. First, the activists rejected a notion of gender equality based on sameness and argued that being granted the same rights as men would not solve the political, economic, and cultural injustice women face. The most explicit example is the activists’ demand for a quota in the parliament and their arguments supporting quotas as a legal tool to guarantee women’s political representation. The activists also rejected gender equality based on difference, since this conception of equality—like sameness—derives from a male standard. In published documents and interviews, the activists stated that men or the patriarchal culture must not define how and when women are different from men and in need of special treatment. Second, the activists regarded gender equality as substantive equality. Based on their understanding of why women are discriminated against in Egypt and how to foster social change, activists promoted a constitution with the function to address and recognize all areas where women experience discrimination and to explicitly articulate gender equality in relation to those areas. Since Egyptian society historically discriminates against women, women need affirmative legal tools to be able to enjoy their rights. The activists’ goal was constitutional gender equality with the function of compensating for these structural inequalities.

Finally, the activists made strategic choices in their arguments for gender equality based on hierarchy. My reading of their navigating between old constitutions, human rights principles, and approaches to gender equality is that they chose not to include an explicit “equality-as-a-right” language (as in the South African constitution) in their document of suggested articles. Instead of “right-to” language, they drew on principles from the CEDAW while keeping strategic phrases from earlier Egyptian constitutions and emphasized freedom from discrimination and the state’s obligation to ensure this freedom. A more substantial combination of negative and positive rights could have further strengthened their arguments for substantive equality.

My conclusions show how vital constitutional and legal texts were to the activists and their belief that with the correct conceptualization of gender equality, the revolution could help realize women’s rights. However, as other research argues, there were tensions among feminist activists about how to relate to the constitution since it could legitimize the authoritarian leadership of the SCAF and later el-Sisi ( Kamal 2015 ; Tadros 2016 ). My findings mirror processes found in neighboring countries after the Arab Spring. Kamal (2015) and Morsy (2014) explore such methods and mobilization tactics among women rights activists; Tadros (2019) analyzes the power structures and conditions for bargaining for women’s rights in different political settings. My study contributes to this body of work with a conceptual analysis of one of the most important feminist struggles after the Egyptian revolution— the constitution-writing process—and shows that conceptual and theoretical discussions among the activists were at the core of their mobilization in this particular revolutionary moment.

I am very grateful to Professor Anna Bruce, Lena Halldenius, Linde Lindkvist, and Dalia Abdelhady for constructive comments and feedback on earlier drafts of the article. I also want to thank all the reviewers for their contribution to improving the article.

Al-Ali Nadje. 2000 . Secularism, gender and the state in the Middle East: The Egyptian women’s movement . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Google Scholar

Google Preview

Allam Nermin. 2018 . Women and the Egyptian revolution: Engagement and activism during the 2011 Arab uprisings . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .

Alvarez Sonia E. 2009 . Beyond NGO-ization? Reflections from Latin America . Development 52 ( 2 ): 175 – 84 .

Baker Cynthia , Wuest Judith , Stern Phyllis Noerager . 1992 . Method slurring: The grounded theory/phenomenology example . Journal of Advanced Nursing 17 ( 11 ): 1355 – 60 .

Becker Mary. 1999 . Patriarchy and inequality: Towards a substantive feminism . University of Chicago Legal Forum 1999 : 21 – 88 .

Bell Mark. 2004 . Equality and the European Union constitution . Industrial Law Journal 33 ( 3 ): 242 – 60 .

Bier Laura. 2011 . Revolutionary womanhood: Feminisms, modernity, and the state in Nasser’s Egypt . Stanford : Stanford University Press .

Charrad Mounira M. , Zarrugh Amina . 2014 . Equal or complementary? Women in the new Tunisian constitution after the Arab Spring . Journal of North African Studies 19 ( 2 ): 230 – 43 .

Cutcliffe John R. 2000 . Methodological issues in grounded theory . Journal of Advanced Nursing 31 ( 6 ): 1476 – 84 .

El-Mahdi Rabab. 2010 . Does political Islam impede gender-based mobilization? The case of Egypt . Politics, Religion & Ideology 11 ( 3–4 ): 379 – 96 .

Farag Mona Kamal. 2013. Evolving female participation in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood . PhD thesis, University of Exeter.

Fineman Martha Albertson. 2011 . Transcending the boundaries of law: generations of feminism and legal theory . New York: Routledge .

Hafez Sherine. 2014 . Bodies that protest: The girl in the blue bra, sexuality, and state violence in revolutionary Egypt . Signs 40 ( 1 ): 20 – 28 .

Hatem Mervat. 1992 . Economic and political liberation in Egypt and the demise of state feminism . International Journal of Middle East Studies 24 ( 2 ): 231 – 51 .

Hatem Mervat. 2000 . The pitfalls of the nationalist discourses on citizenship in Egypt. In Gender and citizenship in the Middle East , 33 – 57 . New York : Syracuse University Press .

Hitman Gadi. 2018 . Arab Spring era: Winds of change in the direction of gender equality for Tunisian women . DOMES: Digest of Middle East Studies 27 ( 2 ): 168 – 84 .

Holtmaat Rikki. 2013 . The CEDAW: A holistic approach to women’s equality and freedom. In Women's human rights: CEDAW in international, regional, and national law , 95 – 123 . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Houssi Leila El. 2018 . The role of women in Tunisia from Bourguiba to the promulgation of new constitution . Oriente Moderno 98 ( 2 ): 187 – 202 .

Human Rights Watch . 2014 . All according to plan: The Rab’a massacre and mass killings of protesters in Egypt . https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/08/12/all-according-plan/raba-massacre-and-mass-killings-protesters-egypt .

Hunter Rosemary. 2008 . Rethinking equality projects in law: Feminist challenges . Portland,OR: Bloomsbury Publishing .

Irving Helen. 2009 . More than rights. In Constituting equality: Gender equality and comparative constitutional law , 75 – 92 . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Kamal Hala. 2015 . Inserting women’s rights in the Egyptian constitution: Personal reflections . Journal for Cultural Research 19 ( 2 ): 150 – 61 .

L’Heureux-Dube Claire. 2000 . A conversation about equality . Denver Journal of International Law & Policy 29 ( 1 ): 65 – 75 .

MacKinnon Catharine A. 1987 . Feminism unmodified: Discourses on life and law . Cambridge: Harvard University Press .

MacKinnon Catharine A. 2006 . Sex equality under the constitution of India: Problems, prospects, and “personal laws” . International Journal of Constitutional Law 4 ( 2 ): 181 – 202 .

Majury Diana. 1987 . Strategizing in equality . Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal 3 : 169 – 87 .

Morsy Maya. 2014 . Egyptian women and the 25th of January revolution: Presence and absence . Journal of North African Studies 19 ( 2 ): 211 – 29 .

Nazra for Feminist Studies . 2012 . “ورقة موقف لنظرة للدراسات النسوية من مسودة الدستور النهائية”. نظرة للدراسات النسوية. 04” [Nazra for Feminist Studies position paper on the final draft of the constitution] December 4, 2012, https://nazra.org/2012/12/%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%82%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%88%D9%82%D9%81-%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%A9 .

Nazra for Feminist Studies . 2013 . Analytical paper: The right of women to public political space, July 28, 2013, https://nazra.org/en/2013/07/analytical-paper-right-women-public-political-space .

Nazra for Feminist Studies . 2014a . Letter to the President to suggest conducting the coming legislative elections using zippered proportional lists, February 14, 2014, https://nazra.org/en/2014/02/letter-president-suggest-conducting-coming-legislative-elections-using-zippered-proportional .

Nazra for Feminist Studies . 2014b . Where are women in upcoming electoral coalitions?, August 3, 2014, https://nazra.org/en/2014/08/where-are-women-upcoming-electoral-coalitions .

Otto Dianne. 2006 . Lost in translation: Re-scripting the sexed subjects of international human rights law. In International law and its others , 318 – 56 . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Parisi Laura. 2002 . Feminist praxis and women’s human rights . Journal of Human Rights 1 ( 4 ): 571 – 85 .

Rees Teresa. 1998 . Mainstreaming Equality in the European Union: Education, Training and Labour Market Policies. London: Routledge.

Rennick Sarah Anne. 2018 . Politics and revolution in Egypt: Rise and fall of the youth activists . New York: Routledge .

Saksena Anu. 2007 . CEDAW: Mandate for substantive equality . Indian Journal of Gender Studies 14 ( 3 ): 481 – 98 .

Salime Zakia. 2012 . A new feminism? Gender dynamics in Morocco’s February 20th movement . Journal of International Women’s Studies 13 ( 5 ): 101 – 14 .

Tadros Mariz. 2010 . Quotas: A highway to power in Egypt … but for which women? ” IDS Bulletin-Institute of Development Studies 41 ( 5 ): 89 – 99 .

Tadros Mariz. 2016 . Resistance, revolt, and gender justice in Egypt . Syracuse: Syracuse University Press .

Tadros Mariz. 2019 . Negotiating women in Egypt’s post-Mubarak constitutions (2012–2014) . Politics & Gender 16 (1): 1 – 29 .

Tolino Serena. 2018 . Gender equality in the Egyptian constitution: From 1923 to 2014 . Oriente Moderno 98 ( 2 ): 140 – 65 .

Walby Sylvia. 2004 . The European Union and gender equality: Emergent varieties of gender regime . Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 11 ( 1 ): 4 – 29 .

Williams Susan H. 2009 . Constituting equality: Gender equality and comparative constitutional law . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .

Email alerts

Citing articles via.

• Recommend to your Library

Affiliations

• Online ISSN 1468-2893
• Print ISSN 1072-4745
• Copyright © 2024 Social Politics LLC
• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Institutional account management
• Rights and permissions
• Get help with access
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Gender Equity Seal: A Key to Strengthening Egypt’s Private Sector

Egyptian women represent 50% of the country’s population. A number of global studies confirm that businesses and companies that close their gender gap enjoy increased profitability. This means that when more women work, economies grow.

Egypt-specific findings show that that if female labor participation rate matched that of males’, GDP would increase by 34%. Additionally, findings related to the Egyptian financial sector suggest that women’s participation – especially at the executive and board levels – appears associated with greater financial resilience and bank stability. Those findings also suggest that ensuring women’s active participation in economic activity is essential for Egypt to achieve its vision 2030. However, women remain underrepresented at every level of the corporate pipeline, with the greatest disparity at senior levels of leadership. 

Providing women with a hospitable work environment will boost their participation in the economy and have to positive spillover effect that will improve the human capital outcomes of the country at large. Despite the huge potential Egyptian women have in strengthening their country’s private sector and overall economy, they still face myriad hindering factors that stop them from fulfilling that potential, such as culture barriers and workplace policies that are preferential to males. The World Bank’s 2019 Women Economic Empowerment study showed that while women are better represented in the Government and public sectors, as only 18% of the female workforce is employed in the private sector (compared to 36% in the government and public sectors combined). Furthermore, women, on average, get paid 34% less per hour than their male counterparts and are under-represented in boards of companies (9.7%) as well as in managerial positions (7.1%).

In efforts to promote, incentivize, and institutionalize gender equity in the Egyptian private sector, the World Bank partnered with the National Council for Women with the support of the UK embassy in Egypt to revive the Egyptian Gender Equity Seal (EGES) certification. This model promotes gender equity in the private sector by building a series of good practices in the areas of (i) recruitment; (ii) career development; (iii) family-work balance; and (iv) sexual harassment policies. It is guided by the World Bank’s Gender Equity Model (GEM) , which identified the areas of focus and mapped out the needed actions to accomplish the model’s objectives in each area. 

The Gender Equity Model – launched globally by the Bank in 2001 – is a joint effort between the government and the participating private sector company. The World Bank provides the needed technical assistance to allow the firm to voluntarily adopt the GEM through a four-stage certification process: (i) commitment to the EGES principles and setting up a company’s internal gender equity committee; (ii) self-assessment to identify cultural barriers and gender gaps; (iii) action plan design and implementation; and (iv) pre-auditing, auditing, and certification (Gender Equity Seal). The main premise behind this certification process is to make the workspace more hospitable to women through a set of gender sensitive policies that promote gender equality such as access to childcare, flexible work arrangements, safe working space, and anti-discrimination and sexual harassment policies.

The EGES certification was successfully implemented in Egypt between 2008 and 2010, and ten private sector companies were certified. After two years, companies would need to participate in another assessment to ensure they continue to improve gender equity and maintain the minimum required equity policies. Unfortunately, the initiative was stalled due to the aftermath of 2011 revolution. The EGES  was revived in 2020 with the relaunch of its certification process, which put in place an institutionalization system, including an operational manual and Training of Trainers guide to ensure the continuity and expansion of this process to any Egyptian company interested in endorsing the GEM principles. The idea is for the Women’s Business Development Centre under the National Council of Women to act as the government coordinating and executing agency that supports the company by providing technical assistance and facilitating the EGES process. 

With the EGES revival, two key private sector firms, which are among the country’s largest and most prominent, were awarded the certification on March 11th, 2021: The Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Vodafone Egypt

“ We are very proud to be awarded the EGES certificate. As a company with 33% of its work force being female and 25%  female upper management we have a firm belief that promoting gender equity is of benefit to our company as well as the economy as a whole and this is what the EGES will help us do better and in a more sustainable way, ” said  Ayman Essam, External Affairs and Legal Director, Vodafone .

Empowering women is essential to sustainable development in many ways. Doing so through promoting gender equity in the work place is even more pressing in the wake of COVID-19, which is expected to have a bigger impact on women as it threatens to magnify existing inequalities and drive women to consider downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce altogether.

“ Self-assessment is a very granular and revealing process that clearly lays out an institution’s strengths and weaknesses towards achieving a certain goal, which in our case with the EGES is establishing and institutionalizing gender equity work place policies, ” said Dalia Abdel Kader, Chief Sustainability Officer, CIB. “ We are firm believers that Gender Equity equals growth. With the seal’s strong methodology and clear structure, we hope to further empower our female employees and overcome the challenges that stand in the way of doing that. ” 

The crisis also represents an opportunity if companies make significant investments in building a more flexible and empathetic workplace nurturing a culture in which women have equal opportunity to achieve their potential over the long term. 

“ We believe that women are half of the society, so we will not be successful unless our female employees are empowered. COVID-19 fast forwarded our goals towards revamping our flexible working policies which includes 3 days a week working from home. The EGES assessment will help us to further institutionalize the principles of gender equity workplace policies and accordingly attract and retain female talent that are very valuable to our company and to the sector at large, ” added Nagla Kinawi, Human Resources Director, Vodafone .

Egyptian women are a very strong catalyst for growth in their country, and the World Bank is committed to continuously supporting them to thrive and fulfill their potential.

• The World Bank in Egypt
• The World Bank in the Middle East and North Africa

•  Sign into My Research
•  Create My Research Account
• Company Website
• Our Products
• About Dissertations
• Español (España)
• Support Center

Select language

• Bahasa Indonesia
• Português (Brasil)
• Português (Portugal)

Welcome to My Research!

You may have access to the free features available through My Research. You can save searches, save documents, create alerts and more. Please log in through your library or institution to check if you have access.

Translate this article into 20 different languages!

If you log in through your library or institution you might have access to this article in multiple languages.

Get access to 20+ different citations styles

Styles include MLA, APA, Chicago and many more. This feature may be available for free if you log in through your library or institution.

Looking for a PDF of this document?

You may have access to it for free by logging in through your library or institution.

Want to save this document?

You may have access to different export options including Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive and citation management tools like RefWorks and EasyBib. Try logging in through your library or institution to get access to these tools.

• Document 1 of 1
• More like this
• Scholarly Journal

An Overview of Gender Equality in Egypt

No items selected.

Please select one or more items.

Select results items first to use the cite, email, save, and export options

Unlike the majority of ancient societies, Egypt held women at a very high eminence rendering them equitable status with men. Ancient Egyptian women possessed equal legal as well as political rights as men, the matter that has been expressed through a lot of Egyptian art and manuscripts. At a certain point in history Egyptian women ruled the country as queens and pharaohs. Unfortunately, moving into the present time the status of women in Egypt shows a profound retreat. Empowering women and incorporating them as vital members and partakers in all realms of life is not a luxury anymore but rather a necessity. Regrettably, gender inequality in Egypt remains to be a fundamental barrier hindering the accomplishment of this goal. It is the aim of this paper to shed light on the current situation of women in Egypt through comparisons with other neighbouring countries as well as with global indices at present. Conclusions show that despite some improvements, a lot remains to be done in order to ensure gender equality that is required to endorse sustainable development goals in Egypt.

Keywords: Gender Inequality Index (GII); Global Gender Gap Index (GGI); Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Gender Development Index (GDI); Egypt;

JEL Codes: J17; J71; F63; O15;

1.Introduction

Egypt ranks among the highest 10 countries in the world with regards to the gender gap (USAID, 2017). It is essential to realize that by undermining half of the potential workforce we are forgoing half of the human capital diminishing -therefore- both economic growth and economic development. Moreover, recent statistics have revealed that 30% of the Egyptian households are entirely supported financially by women in addition to an evident percentage co-supporting their families. In 2018 the Central Agency for Public Mobilization has released statistics stipulating that 14% of Egyptian families are headed by women. Despite that, women in Egypt still lack social, economic, political and legal tools needed to empower them in order to fulfil their vital role in the economy.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the current situation of women in Egypt through comparisons with their status in the past and with other neighbouring countries as well as with global indices at present. Looking back to the history of Egypt women have been bestowed the highest degree of respect in the society. They have been awarded equitable standing with men in all realms of life, as they enjoyed full social, legal, economic as well as political rights in absence of all forms of gender discrimination. Regrettably, moving into the present time the status of women in Egypt has changed dramatically showing a profound regression.

Succeeding the introduction, the problem statement and the research methodology are portrayed followed by a short description of the status of women in ancient Egypt. Afterwards, the paper provides an overview of the current status of women in Egypt where some comparisons with neighbouring countries are provided regarding gender gap and gender inequality. The paper also presents the situation of women in the political arena in Egypt as well as their current legal standing. Lastly, the paper concludes that -currentlyEgypt ranks among the highest countries in the world with regards to gender disparity. Bearing in mind that gender equality is at the core of women empowerment, coupled by the wide recognition of the positive correlation between women empowerment and development, it becomes of vital necessity to address the predicament of gender inequality in Egypt. The fact that achieving women empowerment is widely recognized as a prerequisite to development, is patently acknowledged by the Egyptian administration. Despite the sincere exertions of the state however, a lot remains to be achieved in order to bridge the gender gap in Egypt relative to global indices and even to some of its neighbours.

2.Problem Statement and Research Methodology

Gender equality in Egypt is a matter of utmost importance, especially because of how it intertwines with attaining Sustainable Development Goals. Egypt ranks among the highest 10 countries in the world with regards to the gender gap (USAID, 2017). It is essential to realize that by undermining half of the potential workforce we are forgoing half of the human capital diminishing -therefore- both economic growth and economic development. Empowering women and incorporating them as vital members and partakers in all realms of life is not a luxury anymore but rather a necessity. Regrettably, gender inequality in Egypt remains to be a fundamental barrier hindering the accomplishment of this goal.

Subsequent to its importance, an immense body of literature is devoted to topics pertaining to gender equality, particularly in developing countries like Egypt. The 'feminist empowerment' model places extensive importance on gender parity and considers gender subservience to be an intricate, multifaceted, deeply rooted problem that adversely impacts all aspects of a woman's existence (Dorlet, 2005). According to Jayachandran (2014) in her paper "The Roots of Gender Quality in Developing Countries," gender disparity is sculpted by economic and cultural influence (cited in Jamila and Muchmudi, 2019). Also, Kabeer - a prominent advocate for women empowerment and gender equality - warns that gender isolation extends beyond the household domain to the public milieu through biased policies and legislation as well as inequitable treatment of officials and employers (Kabeer, 2012).

In addition to its situation as an emerging economy - with all the challenges contingent on that - a host of non-economic factors add to the uniqueness of the situation of Egypt: social, cultural, religious, to name a few. The matter that has drawn the interest of a lot of researchers to focus their work on the case of Egypt. Gender inequality in Egypt has been a subject tackled by many scholars such as Hayat Alvi, who wrote the article "Women's Rights Movements in the Arab Spring" and Farah Gaman Shash who wrote "Gender Quality in a Time of Change" (cited in Jamila and Muchmudi, 2019).

This paper aims to offer a perspective on the current situation of women in Egypt through comparisons with their status in the past and with other neighbouring countries as well as with their global standing. In an attempt to reach this end, the paper implies a scrutiny of the literature, proving that Egypt has a remarkable history of gender equality and justice, nevertheless - to the detriment of women - many of those gains acquired in the ancient time have not been reserved to extend to the present generations of Egyptian women.

3.1. Women in Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt discrepancies and inequality in social, legal, economic or any other form of rights was based on social class not gender. The remarkable variation in the status given to ancient Egyptian women can be clearly seen in contrast to ancient Greek women. In 332 B.C. when the Greek invaded Egypt, Egyptian women were enjoying advanced rights and civil liberties in comparison to Greek women living under a male dominated system at that time. Women civil rights in Egypt stretched to all capacities, they could buy, sell, own and manage private assets as well as all forms of possessions including; land, goods, property, slaves and money. This is in addition to settling any legal disputes including; sung, testifying in courts as well as representing themselves in resolving matters pertaining to marriage, divorce and adopting kids. In contrast, it was mandatory for Greek women to have a male figure representing them - husband, brother or father - in any legal matter (Tyldesley, 2017).

Women in ancient Egypt were rendered the most prestigious degrees of respect even by religion, as they were appointed priests and worshiped as Gods with equal standing as male Gods. Egyptian women had the right to procure property through a variety of means, in the form of a gift, inheritance - from husband, parents or any member of her family- or as proceeds and returns on her own investments or employment remittances. Moreover, they were entitled to up to one third of all the shared possessions with her husband that has accumulated prior to their marriage. This is while retaining any property that she has entered the marriage with, all of which has to be reverted to her -in full- in case of a divorce. This is in addition to any settlements postulated in the initial marriage agreement (Tyldesley, 2017).

It can be - therefore justifiably - alleged that ancient Egypt symbolized a righteous era for women. A time where they were secured civil rights not to mention evident privileges compared to most ancient civilizations. Regrettably, these rights have not advanced nor even maintained through the history to our modern times, on the contrary, they have regressed evidently.

3.2. Overview of the extant situation

Unfortunately, compared to the eminent position they have held in history, the status of Egyptian women has experienced evident deterioration during the last decades. This is despite some achievements that can't be ignored. In comparison to other countries Egypt ranks manifestly low with regards to gender equality. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Social Institutions and Gender Index 2014 - specializing in measuring legislation, practices, and attitudes constraining women's civil rights and opportunities, ranks Egypt 'very high' in gender discrimination similar to other African and Middle Eastern countries.

Despite the fact that women make up for almost half of the population the USAID report shows that women have considerably lower involvement in the labour force compared to men, with the share of women at 26% versus 79% for men. This is also coupled with gender disparities with regards to literacy rates (USAID, 2017).

On a more positive note, the general life expectancy in 2016 has increased registering 71.48 years causing an improvement in Egypt's position among the 192 countries -reported by the World Bank- from 113 in 2015 to 112 in 2016. Life expectancy of females in 2016 has been reported at 73.73 years as opposed to 69.3 years for men (Trading Economics, 2017). According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) life expectancy of females at birth improved to 73.6 years in 2017 as opposed to 70.8 years for males. It is worthy to note here that life expectancy in 2006 has been reported to be 69.1 years for females and 66.5 years for males. CAMPAS also postulates that in 2017 46.9% females have been found to be members or recipients of health insurance in comparison, however, to 54.6% male beneficiaries (Samir, 2018).

It's important to note here that in order to meticulously assess the extant situation pertaining to gender disparity in Egypt in comparison to neighbour countries a number of imperative indices need to be employed. The following section of the paper will therefore display data presented in the Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) as well as the Gender Gap index of MENA region, the Gender Inequality Index (GII), and finally Gender Development Index (GDI).

The Global Gender Gap Index (GDI) was first launched by the World Economic Forum in 2006 to establish a base for identifying the extent of gender discrepancies. For 14 years the Global Gender Gap Index has offered a trajectory for the progression of different countries over time whether positively or negatively. The GDI assesses the gap between men and women in four principal classifications. These are -as shown in Table 1- Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment. The highest possible score is 1 indicating the ultimate equality, and the lowest possible score is 0 indicating the utmost inequality (WEF, 2020).

In 2015 the Global Gender Gap Index has placed Egypt at 136 out of 145 countries across the world (USAID, 2017). This is while the same investigation in 2017 asserts that the Gender Gap Index (GGI) for Egypt is 0.608 placing it as number 144 out of 144 nations. Amid the four classifications used in the report as a criterion are the low levels of 'economic participation' and 'political empowerment' as well as access to employment opportunities. The comparison between 2006 -when the index was first introduced- and 2017 indexes show a degree of progression in political involvement however no change is detected with respect to economic participation and opportunities (JICA, 2018). It's worthy to note here that in the 2020 GGI Egypt has a score of 0.629 placing it as number 134 out of 153 countries and resulting in humble yet positive 0.051 compared to the 2006 score (World Economic Forum, 2020).

Taking a closer look to compare gender disparity in Egypt with its neighbouring countries, the World Economic Forum report reviewing the status of women in the Middle East and North Africa in 2020 rates Egypt as number 7 out of 18 countries in the region and number 135 out of 159 constituting the report (World Economic Forum, 2020). Although not a desirable position, it is still considered an improvement compared to the same report in 2010 when Egypt ranked 125 relative to 134 countries constituting the Gender Equality Profile for that year and had the 12th position among the 15 MENA countries reviewed on the same year (UNICEF, 2011).

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) was established by the United Nations in the 2010 Human Development Report. The index examines gender disparities based on three basic aspects: reproductive health, empowerment, and economic activity. 'Reproductive health' is determined by maternal mortality and adolescent birth rates. 'Empowerment' is determined by the number of parliamentary seats retained by women and completion of secondary and higher education by each gender. This is while 'economic activity' is determined by participation in the labour market for women versus men. As such, the GII can be explained as the shortfall in human development resulting from the disparity in the male/female accomplishments with regards to the three mentioned aspects (UNDP, 2019). The Gender Inequality Index (GII) for Egypt has registered the value of 0.565 in 2015 placing it at 135 amongst 159 nations. Table 3 shows that despite the improvement in the country's index for reproductive health, the indexes for labour force involvement, number of seats in the parliament, various economic activity as well as women empowerment in general are found to be evidently low. In comparison to its Arab neighbour Morocco for instance, it is reported that the 'adolescent birth rate' as well as the disparity in 'education' is clearly higher (JICA, 2018).

The GDI is a new measure that has been introduced in 2014, centred around the 'sexdisaggregated' data provided by the Human Development Index, which is an average gauge of fundamental human development attainments in a country. Similar to all averages, the HDI conceals the disproportionate distribution of these attainments in a given society, the matter that gives the Gender Development Index its significance. The GDI examines gender disparities signifying three fundamental determinants of HDI: 'health', indicated by female and male life expectancy at birth; 'education', indicated by female and male anticipated years of schooling for kids, 'mean years of schooling' for adults aged 25 years and older, as well as command over economic resources, depicted by female and male estimated 'GNI per capita'. It is calculated based on 166 countries grouped in five distinct groups reflecting the extent of divergence from the gender equality of the HDI, therefore, GDI can be regarded as a ratio of female to male HDI (UNDP, 2019).

Unfortunately, subsequent to its evident aberration from the gender equality of Human Development Index (HDI) Egypt's position in the Gender Development Index (GDI) has retreated to 0.884 in 2015 placing it amongst the lowest five clusters in the GDI (Table 4). This is despite the noticeable improvement in the education realm compared to its neighbouring countries (JICA, 2018). Similar values have also been indicated in 2018 where women HDI figures for Egypt rested on 0.643 as opposed to 0.732 for men, resulting in a GDI value of 0.878 which still positions Egypt in the same category (UNDP, 2019).

Finally, with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the same report provides that Egypt's index score is 64.9 grading it 87 out of 157 countries. The indicators and the level of attaining them are specifically geared towards gender equity together with girls/women empowerment. Midst the 17 SDGs, the country's performance on battling hunger (SDG2), gender equality regarding women's labour opportunities and political participation (SDG5), and economic growth and decent work (SDG8) is comparatively very low (JICA, 2018).

It remains to be indicated that the position of women in Egypt is evidently predisposed by the vague standing of the state where women issues are concerned. This includes the states position and reactions regarding women organizations, the expansion of the civil society, international expectations and the compressions they entail; especially those imposed by donor organizations and last but not least, the evident increase in the influence of the conservative Islamists (Al-Ali, 2002, cited in Dorlet, 2005). Saadallah (2001) cited in Dorlet (2005) adds to the previous list the importance of emergence of political Islam, the progression of societal Islamization as well as the patriarchy dynamics. It is needless to say that all the mentioned play an influential role in shaping and portraying the status of women in Egypt, unfortunately not to the best of their interests.

The following section will attempt a more thorough overview of the status of women in Egypt with a more in-depth examination of indicators affecting their capability to fulfil the crucial role they should be playing in attaining the desired economic growth/development. This would customarily include matters pertaining to an array of pointers; namely health, education, legal rights, political participation, access to economic resources, labour opportunities, and levels of empowerment in general. However, this paper concentrates on two closely intertwined features influencing the status of women in Egypt, the political participation of women and the legal rights as portrayed by law. This is since women participation in the political arena paves the way to passing as well as enforcing legislation that endorses women rights in different realms.

3.3.The political setting in Egypt

Egypt has been run as a presidential system since 1952 following the 1952 revolution that marked the end of the monarchy and the birth of the new independent Arab republic of Egypt. In the recent years, the country has had its share of turbulence and unrest during its post-revolution period, precisely between 2011 and 2013. Since then the state has implemented a new constitution, assumed a single legislature (the parliament) and elected two presidents. Egypt has since been enjoying a state of relative political stability allowing the administration to concentrate on economic reform as a national priority.

By virtue of the current constitution the president has the right to serve for two consecutive terms of four years each. The prime minister is appointed by the president pending the approval of the house of representatives (parliament). The house of representatives is one chamber ('unicameral'), it hosts 596 members three quarters of which must be elected directly. The remaining quarter constituting 120 seats is reserved to women and minorities elected through a 'party list system', in addition to 28 seats appointed by the president. Members of the house of representatives serve for 5 years, the last election took place in 2015 where 41% of the seats were shared among three parties while a majority of 59% won by independent individuals (Oxford Business Group, 2018).

3.4.Women's participation in the political milieu

Egyptian women have a long history of partaking in the political milieu amid all the encounters and adversities that faced the country through the years. Women's evident participation in the political life goes back to the 1919 revolution when they took out to the streets side by side with men facing the same danger and giving the same sacrifices. The role they played gave rise -few years afterwards- to what became to be known as the 'feminist activism' followed by the Egyptian feminist Union in 1923 (Al-Ali, 2002 cited in Dorlet, 2005). The feminist activists demanded better political rights for women, adjustments in the personal status law -particularly in stipulations pertaining to divorce and polygamy- and allowing women fair chance for professional job opportunities. The efforts of this generation of feminists was trailed by the exertions of others in early 1950s when the bourgeois women of the country merged with the middle class in founding new associations that became more persistent in requesting equal opportunities in all professions and demanding better integration of women in all realms including the political one (Hatem, 1994 cited in Dorlet, 2005).

Regrettably, despite their diligent commitment and full-fledged support to all the country's causes through the history, Egyptian women have been underrepresented in the political life for the most part. Similar to the challenges they face amid their participation in the economic realm, Egyptian women encounter substantial difficulty into accessing the political arena. Even after the vital role they played in two revolutions (2011 and 2013), political participation still remains an aspect of gender acceptance.

The right to vote and participate in elections has been granted to women by law in 1956. Despite that women participation in the political life has remained extremely humble up to the 2011 revolution. For instance, as of 2007 women share of the People's Assembly (the Egyptian Parliament) has been a timid 2% of the total seats. In order to rectify this situation a law has been postulated in 2009 specifying a quota for women allowing better representation in the People's Assembly (UNICEF, 2011).

The 2014 Constitutions has made a sincere attempt into granting women a more just opportunity in participating in the political scene. The Constitution visibly stipulates that the government is dedicated to putting in effect all the required actions to guarantee an adequate representation of women in the parliament (Article 11). This is in addition to designating one-quarter of the seats in local councils for women (Article 80).

It's worth noting that at the present - amid the 2015 parliamentary elections - women are in possession of 89 seats in the parliament out of a total of 568 seats, which amounts to 14.9%. The stated percentage indicates an evident improvement compared to the 2010 parliamentary elections registering 12.7% for women and from that of 2012 as well- during the Muslim Brotherhood rule - registering 2.2% (JICA, 2018).

The 2015 parliamentary elections have witnessed unpresented female representation. In the named election 100 women have run as candidates through eight party lists while 110 other women have run as independents amounting to 8.2% of total candidates. This is in addition to 75 women who have been directly elected as well as 14 who have been appointed by the president. As such, it can be undoubtedly stated that the 2015 parliamentary elections have displayed the most prevalent women representation in the history of Egypt (ECWR, 2015).

As for ministerial appointments, for the first time in Egypt's Cabinet history eight women have been appointed as ministers. This is as two new ministers were appointed as part of the ministerial reshuffle in January 2018 to head the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Health. This is in addition to the six - previously appointed - female ministers heading the Ministries of Culture, Tourism, Investment, Environment, Social Solidarity, and Migration, all together accounting for 17.1% of the cabinet.

As such, the percentage of women holding higher managerial positions in the Government - since 2015- as ministers has registered 4.9%, deputy Minister 0%, higher executive 10.7%, high executive 14% and general manager 9.3% (JICA, 2018). Also, according to the ECWR (2018), 21.3% of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel are women holding consular and diplomatic positions up to the title of Consular General and Ambassador to Egypt. This is in addition to appointing the first female governor in Egypt - in February 2017- to head the Beheria Governorate (ECWR, 2018).

As humble as these percentages may seem - when compared with international statistics for women political involvement - they still signify an evident improvement compared to the prior situation in Egypt. That being said, a lot still needs to be accomplished to secure women their fair opportunity of sound participation in political life.

The judicial system - however - has not experienced the same progression. Despite the fact that the constitution plainly stipulates the women's right to be appointed in 'judicial bodies and entities' - including heading courts - without any discernment, the state council still refuses to appoint female judges (ECWR, 2018). Until 2007 it has not been permissible for women to be appointed as judges. Subsequent to years of fighting and petitioning -by women's organizations and advocates- the prohibition has been hauled up; 30 women have been appointed as judges prior to the decision. Female judges, however, remain to be confined to family courts and denied any access to penal courts. Moreover, the State Council -which is the highest administrative court in the country- has ruled in 2010 to ban women from being appointed to the council. Although, the decree has been overruled by the Constitutional Court, women are still denied appointment to the State Council and also remain to be extremely underrepresented in the judicial system in general (UNICEF, 2011).

3.5.The current legal standing of women

The Egyptian law draws its foundation from the French civil decrees and the Islamic jurisprudence (Shari'a). The Personal Affairs Law, however, attending to matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, alimony and child custody rules by Shari'a. Almost in all legal disputes the court will view men and women equally except when it comes to family laws where a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man (UNICEF, 2011). It's important to know that the Coptic Christians of Egypt - constituting 10% of the population - are governed by their religious laws when it comes to the named family matters. As such in matters pertaining to Personal Law - which primarily impacts women - a unified law that oversees all Egyptians does not exist.

Having the state acknowledge the importance of incorporating a 'feminist agenda' in the legal framework has been the result of diligent and persistent exertions of countless feminist organizations. In 1960s with the conversion of Egypt into socialism, policies intending to alter women legal standing started to be introduced and enforced (Hatem 1994, cited in Dorlet, 2005). The new 1956 constitution granted women voting rights, endorsed their right to education at all levels as well as their right to work outside the household (Al-Ali, 1997, cited in Dorlet, 2005). As such women rights to health, education, and employment finally became protected by virtue of law. The legal context for women rights, however, has progressed through the recent years even more. The constitution that has been established and enforced in 2014 has designated a number of articles to enhancing the current situation of women especially in rural areas.

Article 9 of the constitution denounces discrimination against women in all its forms and institutes the foundation for equal opportunity for all Egyptians regardless of gender. Article 11 concedes the duty and responsibility of the state to guarantee equitable treatment for men and women as far as accessing civil, economic, social as well as cultural rights are concerned. The article also attempts to facilitate the enactment of methods aiming to secure the proper representation of women in civil institutions and different decision-making associations. This is in addition to banning gender discrimination and protecting women against all practices of violence. Moreover, the article also stipulates the state's commitment to extend assistance and security to mothers and their children, females heading and supporting households, elder women as well as those in dire need (UN Women, 2018).

There are also a number of other articles in the constitution that prohibits violence against women, one of which is article 98 that incriminate all practices of slavery and trafficking in humans especially women and minors. Moreover, the constitution also elevates the minimum legal age for marriage to 18 years in an attempt to restrain child marriage, a problem prevalent especially in rural areas and upper Egypt (UN Women, 2018).

Lastly, Article 93 of the constitution stipulates for Egypt's obligation towards human rights resolutions specially those pertaining to women rights. Further amendments have been also implemented to enhance gender equity, the most imperative of which are the adjustments to the inheritance rights. The revised law incriminates any hindrance to a woman's rights to attain her inheritance and declares it a crime punished by a fine of up to 100,000 Egyptian pounds and a jail sentence of a minimum of 6 months (UN Women, 2018).

Furthermore, the government of Egypt has made promoting women's rights and raising the awareness to the vitality of their inclusion in all aspects of life a matter of highest importance. This goal has been validated at the highest political level as manifested by the government's decision to declare 2017 to be the "Year of Egyptian Women". It is, however, needless to point out that as important as changing the legislation is it cannot attain the desired outcomes on its own. As honourable as the intentions and goals are the implementation on real grounds remains to face numerous challenges, starting from administrative, social and cultural - to name a few - to the frail enforcement of the legislation itself.

4.Conclusion

The status of Egyptian women in ancient times is unparallel to any other civilization as they have enjoyed equal legal, political, social and economic rights as men. Unfortunately, this exceptional position has not been maintained through the history, on the contrary, it has regressed substantially. Currently, Egypt rates among the highest countries in the world with respect to gender inequality as indicated by Gender Inequality Index (GII), the Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) and Gender development Index (GDI). Egypt - at present - is an emerging economy facing immense economic as well as social challenges. Women amount for almost half of the country's population, continuing to marginalize them as such is a waste of resources that can otherwise alter the social as well as economic wellbeing of the country. Little, however, can be achieved if women are not perceived as crucial partakers in achieving these goals. Gender disparities, as such, do not only deny women their civil rights -as postulated by the law- but poses an impediment towards their empowerment.

Achieving women empowerment is widely recognized as a prerequisite to development, the matter that is patently acknowledged by the Egyptian administration. Needless to say that the success of the government's alleged reforms is contingent on its ability to tackle obstacles hindering growth and development potentials, an essential one of which being women active involvement in all realms to ensure the well-being of the country. Gender conscious legal standing as well as proper participation in the political arena are among the most crucial rudiments of such involvement. Despite the government's sincere exertions in founding legislations that endorses improved women rights and supporting better political participation opportunities for them, a lot remains to be sought in order for Egyptian women participation to reach the global percentages. Thus, gender equality is not just crucial for attaining social justice but also for achieving various social and economic goals on the road of accomplishing development in its true sense.

References:

Dorlet, J. (2005): Women and Micro Credit: Towards an Understanding of Women's Experiences in Cairo, Egypt. [online] Digitool.library.mcgill.ca. Available at: http://digitooLHbrary.mcgüLca/webdient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1557671339689~444&u sePid1=true&usePid2=true [Accessed 12 May 2019].

ECWR (2015): Steps Backward: Parliamentary Representation alone is not enough Women's Status Report Summary 2015 Summary.pdf. [online] Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwsERZCDkJWYT2pjdHlEM0xOTHM/view?ts=572b3526&pre f=2&pli=1 [Accessed 12 May 2019].

ECWR (2018): 2017 Report on the Egyptian Women Status Summary 2015 Summary.pdf. [online] Ecwronline.org. Available at: http://ecwronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/EnglishSummary-the-2017-Womens-Status-Report.pdf [Accessed 13 May 2019].

Jamilah, M., Machmudi, Y. (2019): Political Gender Inequality in Egypt after the Arab Spring (2011-2013). [online] Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume365. Available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2020].

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) (2018): Country Gender Profile, Arab Republic of Egypt Survey Report, 2018. Open_jicareport.jica.go.jp. (2018). [online] Available at: http://open_jicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/12305181.pdf.

Kabeer, N. (2012): Women 's economic empowerment and inclusive growth: labor markets and enterprise development. [online] Idrc.ca. Available at: https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/sp/Documents%20EN/NK-WEE-Concept-Paper.pdf

Oxford Business Group (2018): The Report: Egypt 2018. [online] Oxford Business Group. Available at: https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/egypt-2018 [Accessed 18 Oct. 2018].

Samir, N. (2018): 73.6 average female life expectancy in Egypt in 2017: CAPMAS - Daily News Egypt. [online] Daily News Egypt. Available at: https://dailynewsegypt.com/2018/05/27/73-6average-female-life-expectancy-in-egypt-in-2017-capmas/.

Tradingeconomics.com (2017): Egypt Population Female Percent Of Total. [online] Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/egypt/population-female-percent-of-total-wb-data.html.

Tyldesley, J. (2017): The Status of Women in Egyptian Society | Middle East & Islamic Studies Collection. [online] Middleeast.library.cornell.edu. Available at: https://middleeast.library.cornell.edu/content/status-women-egyptian-society.

UNICEF (2011): Egypt MENA Gender Equality Profile Status of Girls and Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Reginal Office for the Middle East and Africa. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/gender/files/Egypt-Gender-Eqaulity-Profile-2011.pdf.

USAID (2017): Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment | Egypt | U.S. Agency for International Development. [online] Available at: https://www.usaid.gov/egypt/gender-equalityand-womens-empowerment.

UN Women (2018): Egypt. Profile of Rural Women. Egypt Country Office UN Women, Cairo. [online] Available at: http://egypt.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/05/profile-ofrural-women.

UNDP (2019): Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century Briefing note for countries on the 2019 Human Development Report, Egypt. [online] Hdr.undp.org. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/EGY.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020].

World Economic Forum (2020): Global Gender Gap Report 2020. [online] Www3.weforum.org. Available at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf [Accessed 7 Jan. 2020].

You have requested "on-the-fly" machine translation of selected content from our databases. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Show full disclaimer

Neither ProQuest nor its licensors make any representations or warranties with respect to the translations. The translations are automatically generated "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" and are not retained in our systems. PROQUEST AND ITS LICENSORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES FOR AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, NON-INFRINGMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Your use of the translations is subject to all use restrictions contained in your Electronic Products License Agreement and by using the translation functionality you agree to forgo any and all claims against ProQuest or its licensors for your use of the translation functionality and any output derived there from. Hide full disclaimer

© 2019. This work is published under NOCC (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Suggested sources

• About ProQuest
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Political Gender Inequality in Egypt after the Arab Spring (2011–2013)

2019, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Strategic and Global Studies (ICSGS 2018)

Related Papers

Ruth Marjalizo

The role of women in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East has undergone a profound transformation. Since the recognition of Egyptian women's suffrage in 1956 to the present, the Arab Spring has played an important role and has resulted in significant progress regarding women's rights. However, expectations were too high that women's rights in the Arab world would receive greater attention following the 2011 Revolution. Regretfully, the transformations suffered by each country in the region suggested otherwise. Egypt ranked as the worst Arab country for women, particularly since the ascent to power of the Muslim Brotherhood in June 2012 until today; a number of national laws containing provisions on women's rights legislations were revised and concrete steps were taken to repeal certain family laws that were regarded as major successes for women's rights in Egypt. This paper will explore the different situations as experienced in Egypt and the evolution of some women's rights in Egypt. The global conception of gender equality has been somehow conceived as an idea imported from the West putting at risk the patriarchal structure and imposing 'Western values' on non-Western cultures, thus ignoring the fact that most of those who were on the streets claiming for more rights were the mostly ‘Eastern-minded’ women whose demands did not correspond to the Western-like expected vindications.

Dahlia M . SaadEl-Din

Amany Khodair

The pivotal role of Egyptian women in recent revolutionary movements, represented in January 25 and June 30 revolutions, has been well documented. Ironically, after January 25 revolution, women&#39;s status in Egypt has regressed in the realm of civil rights, freedoms and equal representation. Despite the significant role of the National Council for Women (NCW) in the process of women empowerment in Egypt before the revolutions, its efforts had been somewhat limited. With upcoming parliamentary elections, the NCW is working to empower women to gain their rightful representation. This research endeavours to assess the effectiveness of the role of NCW in promoting women’s political participation in the genesis of the revolutions, with special regards to the 2015 parliamentary elections. The research argues that the role of NCW is rather limited due to three factors: shortcomings within the NCW institutional framework; shortcomings within the Egyptian legal/constitutional framework; an...

Journal of international women's studies

Aliaa Dawoud

A backlash against women&#39;s rights emerged in post-revolutionary Egypt. This paper argues that one of the reasons is the fact that former President Mubarak, his wife and son were the key decision makers when it came to women&#39;s rights. These decisions were reflected in the media so that women&#39;s rights came to be associated with government policy personalized around the first lady. The paper demonstrates that the backlash did not emerge suddenly after Mubarak was ousted from power, but that dissent against Mubaraks&#39; decisions pertaining to women was prevalent in the media long before the 25 of January revolution. The paper builds on a number of theories. One of them is whether the notion of personal authoritarianism was applicable to the former President&#39;s wife and son and not just to the President himself. It also takes a new dement into consideration: the media, and will analyze the drawbacks of women&#39;s rights as addressed by an authoritarian regime. Keywords:...

Heba Azzazy

nemat guenena

Mashkoor Alam

A new definition has been carved to understand women and their situation in Arab or Muslim World post Arab Spring 2011. This is not the first time Arab women has shown their potential and power but perhaps the first time world has recognize that in spite of the closed and orthodox society Muslim women are enjoying equal opportunity and playing equal role compare to their male counterpart. The Arab Spring has forced the world to recognize the very fact that Muslim women are very much part of the public sphere in the Arab world. The paper aimed to provide glimpse of women power and specially their important role on political change, focusing on the events of the Arab Spring

Pakistan Journal of Gender Studies

Yasir Saeed

The study was carried out Gender Disproportion and Political Representation: Case Studies of Egypt and Morocco. It is the topic which encompasses socio-politicaleconomic conditions of the women in Arab countries, and their different obstacles in achieving the appropriate status in society. This paper investigates the role of Arab women in politics. Content Analysis was used as a methodology for analysis of different theoretical approaches. Morocco and Egypt were selected as a case study in order to analyze women political conditions in Arab world. Combinations of patriarchy, conservative religious interpretations and cultural stereotypes have built a very strong psychological barrier among Arab population regarding women’s participation in the public sphere. The hierarchy of patriarchal tribal structure of several Arab societies in the history was another factor that contributed to this state of affairs. It is argued in the paper that the quota system is the only solution which may ...

International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology

Najeeb Razul A . Sali , zillur Rahman

Women's participation in politics within the Muslim world sparked debates between the traditional and modern Muslim scholars of Islam. This article looks into the extent of the political participation of women in Egypt and elaborates on how the educational system changes the political landscape of the country. Using systemic analysis of the related literature and studies, this study finds that the countries' leading Islamic political movement, the Ikhwan al-Muslim (Muslim Brotherhood), the religious edict of the Shari'ah Council of the al-Azhar University as well as the prevailing social condition of the society favors woman participation in politics. The more they are exposed to the secular educational system of the country the more they are likely to be active in participating in politics as opposed to those that went through the Islamic educational system.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Journal of International Women's Studies

Laila El Baradei , Dina Wafa

International journal of education, culture and society

Bong-Jun Ko

IDS Bulletin

Hania Sholkamy

Amal Hamada

heba youssif

Oriente Moderno

Serena Tolino

Mozn Hassan

in M. Charrad, R. Stephan (eds.), Women and the Arab Spring: resistance, revolution, reform, NYUP

Lorenzo Kamel

RISING PATRIARCHY AND DECLINING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY IN EGYPT

Zafer Buyukkececi

International Feminist Journal of Politics

Anwar Mhajne , Crystal Whetstone

Mariam Waheed

Hoda Elsadda

Review of Economics and Political Science

Hala Adel Abdelgawad

Nadine Sika

Middle East Journal

Safinaz El Tarouty

MSc thesis in Global Studies, Lund University, Sweden

Aydın Baran Gürpınar

Racha Ramadan

Developing Country Studies

Arab Youth Research Platform

yara sherif

Karl G Feld

Shaza Abdellateef

Ragui Assaad

Paulina Kruminaite

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

• Open access
• Published: 02 December 2023

Factors affecting gender equality in public organizations in Egypt

• Yasser Tawfik Halim   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5983-6249 1 ,
• Zeinab Abbas Zaazou 1 &
• Mohamed Samy El-Deeb 1  

Future Business Journal volume  9 , Article number:  99 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

1761 Accesses

1 Altmetric

Metrics details

Research purpose

This paper aims to examine the impact of institutional design, glass ceiling syndromes, traditional stereotypes on gender equality in public organizations in Egypt, and finally the effect of age as a moderating factor of the relation between the dependent and independent variables.

Research methodology

Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were utilized, employing self-administered questionnaires and in-depth interviews to test the research hypotheses.

Research findings

The findings indicate that institutional design factors significantly affect gender equality, while traditional stereotypes also have a significant impact. However, the "Glass Ceiling Syndrome" was found to have no significant effect. Moreover, the study reveals that women's age plays a positive moderating role in the relationship between institutional design, glass ceiling syndromes, traditional stereotypes, and gender equality.

Originality/value

The originality and value of this study lie in its examination of age as a moderator in the relationship between dependent and independent variables, specifically institutional design, glass ceiling syndromes, traditional stereotypes, and gender equality. The inclusion of age as a moderating factor led to interesting findings, demonstrating its positive influence in shaping gender equality outcomes in public organizations.

Introduction

Due to their cultural, social, political, and economical circumstances, many modern cultures still hold women in a subordinate position. Men were formerly favored over women, and now women's roles have diminished. In the 1980s and 1990s, women's empowerment began. Women empowerment transforms power dynamics in favor of women's rights and equality with men [ 11 , 40 ]. Today's cultures are more conscious of women's roles and have launched initiatives to abolish gender inequality. The researchers will explore the hurdles that prevent Egyptian women from reaching senior positions in government, using demography as a moderator.

To provide a comprehensive comprehension of the concept of "equality" within the scope of our research, it is necessary to examine its definition and significance. In terms of gender, equality refers to the equitable and just treatment of individuals, regardless of their gender identity or expression. It involves eradicating discriminatory practices, policies, and attitudes that perpetuate gender-based disparities [ 56 ]. In the context of Egyptian women working in public organizations, equality is of paramount importance. Due to cultural, social, and institutional factors, these women confront unique obstacles and challenges. Consequently, it is essential to investigate how Egyptian women understand, perceive, and experience gender equality in the workplace. By delving deeper into this topic, we can disentangle the complexities and nuances surrounding gender equality, thereby shedding light on the specific challenges women face in public organizations in Egypt [ 3 , 36 , 38 , 43 ].

Studies highlighted the significance of women's participation in Egypt's economy. According to the Global Gender Gap Report [ 22 ], Egypt ranked 129th out of 156 countries. Around 20% of women are participating in the economy related activities, compared to 65% of men. (World Bank, 2020). However, this ratio alone does not fully capture the extensive contributions of women in shaping Egypt's economic landscape. Research studies have revealed the substantial role played by women entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders across various sectors of the Egyptian economy. These studies also demonstrated that women-led businesses contribute to job creation, enhance productivity, and foster innovation. Moreover, women's economic empowerment has been shown to have a positive impact on household income, poverty reduction, and overall societal well-being. Having said that, it is important to acknowledge the challenges and barriers that those strong women face in fully participating in Egypt's economy. Gender-based discrimination, limited access to resources, and prevailing cultural norms are among the factors that would generally hinder women's economic advancement in Egypt. The Egyptian Government is currently exerting efforts to overcome these challenges by implementing gender-responsive policies, expanding access to finance and training opportunities, and creating an enabling environment that supports women's economic empowerment [ 2 , 19 , 20 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 59 ]; World Bank, 2020.

By delving into the hurdles faced by Egyptian women in reaching senior positions in government, this approach aligns with the growing recognition that addressing specific challenges faced by women in attaining leadership roles is essential for achieving broader gender equality objectives [ 47 ]. Research has shown that exploring the obstacles encountered by women in advancing to senior positions within government structures is pivotal for promoting gender equality. By understanding these hurdles, policymakers and organizations can develop targeted interventions and policies that address the specific needs and challenges faced by women, leading to more inclusive and equitable public organizations [ 44 ].

This research study ventures to investigate the above-mentioned challenges and obstacles that could possibly hinder gender equality in Egypt. The qualitative and quantitative nature of this study will help to examine the effect of institutional design, glass ceiling syndromes and traditional stereotypes as independent variables; on gender equality in public organizations as a dependent variable. It is hypothesized the variable of age could moderate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

Several relevant theories and research studies served as a foundation for our comprehension of the factors influencing gender equality in public organizations in Egypt as we developed the conceptual framework for our empirical research. Our study's theoretical foundation is based on the following theories:

Institutional theory that explains how formal and informal rules, norms, and practices influence organizational behavior and outcomes [ 15 ]. We examined the effect of institutional design on gender equality in public organizations using this theory. Institutional design incorporates organizational structures, policies, and practices that either promote or inhibit gender equality.

Another theory named the glass ceiling theory emphasize the argument that women confront invisible barriers that prevent their advancement to top leadership positions within organizations [ 33 , 63 ]. This theory was utilized to investigate the effect of glass ceiling syndromes, such as discriminatory practices and biased perceptions, on gender equality in Egyptian public organizations.

The third theory which is called the Social Role Theory is another perspective that proposes the notion of societal expectations and stereotypes impact on the behavior and opportunities of individuals [ 17 ]. This study will employ this theory to investigate how traditional stereotypes, particularly those pertaining to gender roles, impact on gender equality in Egyptian public organizations. The existence of the age factor as a moderator is stemming from previous studies appearing in the literature [ 14 , 16 , 45 ].

This study is divided into four parts. The first part includes the introduction and literature review; the second part is tackling the qualitative study and its results while the third part is presenting the quantitative study and its results. The final part of the study is discussing the research conclusion and recommendations.

Equality concept

According to Hernández-Truyol [ 30 ], Boulos and La Barbera [ 8 ], equality refers to nondiscrimination and sameness of opportunity and support for each individual as needed. Non-discrimination ensures that no one is denied their rights because of factors, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property or birth. Inequality or lack of sameness would trigger the obligation of affirmative response and ongoing positive rights. The state has the responsibility to implement equality among citizens and correct and remediate its actions that have created inequalities. Equality is about having the same resources, as for the word equity implies what is “just” or “fair”, it’s about social justice and about not only having the same resources, but also having the same circumstances and social, economic conditions. The use of the word equity has increased due to the general concern about social justice and the desire for fairness for historically oppressed groups. Advanced by scholars of women in development (WID) in the 1970s and early 1980s, equity meant equal opportunity for equal contribution between men and women.

Gender equality by the Egyptian constitution

Gender equality first appears in the 1956 constitution: “All Egyptians are equal under the law in public rights and duties, without discrimination due to sex, origin, language, religion, or belief” (Article 31). The 1956 constitution also introduced in (Article 19): “the state facilitates for women the agreement between her work in society and her duties to the family”. The 2014 constitution, in (Article 11) appointed women to high political office, including the judiciary, as well as calling for equal representation of women in parliament. The 2014 constitution called for “social justice” (in Article 8) and “social solidarity” that entail a life of dignity for all citizens [ 9 , 37 ].

Women’s equality in the public organizations in Egypt

According to Merry [ 41 ], Mntambo et al. [ 42 ], Perianes Bermúdez [ 46 ], Awoa et al. [ 4 ] cultural, societal, and religious norms, as well as governmental failures to provide adequate protections made women a subject to violence, discrimination and lack of equal access to basic systems in many countries all over the world, especially in the developing countries and Egypt is no exception to this fact. Regarding the female and male labor force participation rate (% of each gender's population between ages 15–64) in Egypt (1990–2017), in 1990, 23.2% of the Egyptian women between ages 15 to 64 were part of the labor force. In 1994, the female labor force participation rate increased marginally to 24.4. In 2017, 24.1% of Egypt’s women between ages 15 to 64 participated in the labor force. These minimal percentages of women participation in the labor force in Egypt is due to socially assigned gender roles being institutionally enforced. In other cases, beside institutional reasons, societal perceptions and expectations of women and pressure from family and spouses, are also largely responsible for these modest percentages of women participation in the labor force in Egypt. This prevents women from having control over their own lives from the accessibility to sufficient necessities and care, and from having an increased voice and presence in economic matters. All previous mentioned notions cause women inequality with the opposite gender. As for the parliament seats, Egypt has shown a general increase in the number of women in parliament. From the period 1997 till 2009, seats held by women were below 3%. In 2010, the percentage jumped to 12.7%, but dropped down to 2% for the year 2011 and 2012. In 2016 and 2017 less than 15% of seats were held by women [ 57 ].

Institutional design factors and gender equality

Institutions articulate required, prohibited or permitted actions within the organizations; as such institutions constitute power settlements, which are inevitably contested [ 7 , 28 ]. They also express the sanctions authorized if rules are not followed. It is known that rules shape workforce behavior as they constrain some actors and empower others, with respect to the roles they may play, and the types of actions they may take type of rewards they may expect [ 48 ].

Assigning institutional rules alone, does not really justify and explain gender inequality within the organizations, as institutional effects are generated by ‘real human individuals’ (females or males) who are occupying different positions and hold different perspectives on the gender power balance and possibilities for change [ 13 , 24 , 25 ]. The core question is: “Does institutional capacity affect policies no matter who is governing?” Hence, we need to put into consideration the extent to which traditional gender norms are embodied in informal rules and institutional legacies. As such, we need to study relationship between specific design of state institutions and pro-women policy outcomes. Furthermore, we would like to refer to an important aspect of the issue, which is the ‘gendered effects’ as these effects interact with external factors not related to the institutional rules and regulations. Institutional interconnections are a main source of gendered effects. Studying these interactions is crucial to understanding how politics is gendered [ 64 ].

Examples of these factors, where and when meetings are held maybe a disadvantage to women with caring responsibilities. Also, it may be hard for women who are fearful of traveling at night. Moreover, informal rules about the suitable age for certain jobs, may be a strong gendered effect as women are more likely than men to have taken career breaks and may be older than their male counterparts when competing for the same job. As well as those women who wish to engage in traditional leadership roles but are framed unsuitable because of embedded assumptions about how women should behave. [ 21 , 52 ].

From the previous discussion we can hypothesize the first hypothesis:

Institutional design factors significantly affect gender equality in public organizations.

The glass ceiling syndrome

The metaphor “glass ceiling” was for the first time used by Marilyn Loden in the 1970s. This term was used in the beginning in the economics sector but with advancements it is now being widely used in almost every sector of career. ‘Glass’ refers to the unforeseen barriers and hurdles and ‘ceiling’ refers on the other hand to the distant rank advancement highlighting the discrimination in gender preferences [ 10 ].

According to Julie I Bockarie [ 35 ] “Glass Ceiling Syndrome” affects mainly women, but also minority groups as well. It is described as an invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from reaching decision-making positions or attaining opportunities within organizations. This syndrome shows up in our personal and social lives as well, for example, girls’ education is not given priority in certain parts of the world and even in the western societies where women receive education, gender bias is still evident.

Zaazou and Halim [ 67 ], Babic and Hansez [ 5 ], Elacqua et al. [ 18 ] explained why women managers rarely reach the highest levels of their organization. As stated, sometimes interpersonal relationships influence the way women and their male counterparts are treated within the organization. For example, women employees whose supervisors act as their mentors perceive less differential treatment among employees in their company.

In addition, the existence of an informal social network of senior people within the firm facilitate the exchange of valuable information related to new positions, managerial decisions, and ongoing projects [ 49 ]. Limited accessibility to such a network would negatively affect = the chances of promotion and therefore, lead to a perception of a glass ceiling. Finally, the friendly relationships with the company’s decision-makers are playing an important role in minimizing the glass ceiling syndrome effect for women employees [ 5 ].

Therefore, we can develop the second hypothesis:

The “Glass Ceiling Syndrome” significantly affect gender equality in public organizations.

Gender stereotypes and gender equality

Gender stereotypes are consensus and generalizations about what men and women are like. It is about the distribution of men and women social roles at home and at work as well. Stereotypes allow people to categorize and simplify what they observe and make predictions and assumptions about others. Stereotypes regarding gender are very influential because gender is an aspect of a person that is noticed and cannot be forgotten. [ 29 ].

According to Stewart et al. [ 55 ] gender stereotypes are generalized assumptions regarding common traits such as ambition, power and competitiveness as inherent in men, and communal traits such as nurturing, empathy and concern for others as characteristics of women. Gender-based stereotypes are developed by social norms related to masculinity and femininity (e.g. physical attributes, temperament, occupation/role suitability, etc.), of course, these norms are subject to the influence of culture and time.

Tabassum and Nayak [ 58 ] stated that stereotyping serves many purposes reflecting a variety of cognitive and motivational processes. Mainly it is a way of allowing the perceiver to rely on previously stored knowledge in place of incoming information and justifying the status quo or in response to social identity.

Bian et al. [ 6 ] argued that the career of young men and women are shaped by societal stereotypes about gender. For example, the common stereotype that men are better than women at mathematics erodes women’s performance in this realm weakens their interest in mathematics-intensive fields. However, popular beliefs about women’s ability associate not only specific cognitive processes such as mathematics, but also the overall amount of cognitive ability. The belief of men superiority in cognitive abilities may explain the gender gaps in many prestigious occupations.

From the previous discussion we develop the third hypothesis:

Traditional stereotypes significantly affect gender equality in public organizations.

Age and gender equality

Sharma and Kaur [ 51 ] presented in their study three main barriers working women are facing when trying to attain high managerial positions. These barriers are personal barriers, organizational barriers and societal barriers. The authors also discussed the moderating effect of marital status (single or married) on the relationship of glass ceiling for women (GCW) and work engagement. The findings of the study revealed that the organizational and societal barriers had a major impact of 39 percent on work engagement, and that marital status of the women managers acted as a moderator between the organizational and societal barriers of GCW and their work engagement level.

In comparison to men, women experienced 53% more discrimination in respect to age and gender. Nevertheless, gender may interact with occupation that influences employment-related decisions for specific occupations, for example, men are suitable for software engineers and women as nurses [ 66 ].

Wilkinson and Male [ 65 ], Ross and Mirowsky [ 50 ] stated that older women compared to men may face more educational and employment challenges than do younger women. They also mentioned in their study that in general, older people feel less in control of their own lives than do younger persons, and older women may be considered disadvantaged than their male counterparts due to accumulative work, educational and economic past experiences.

According to Alon-Shenker and MacDermott [ 1 ], the intersection of age and gender is affecting female workers drastically due to the current limitations of anti-discrimination laws and regulations that reduce the negative impact of this intersection on older working women.

In a brief produced by the United Nations [ 62 ], age associated with gender is playing an important role in shaping the lives of older women. Both women and men experience ageism when they get older, but women experience aging and its impact differently. Nevertheless, there are other intersectional factors, such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, religion and social origin aggravate the risk of gender inequality and discrimination against older working women.

Manzi et al. [ 39 ] argued that age intersection with gender may play a critical role in shaping women’s work life. The authors revealed that women in the workplace experience more age-based stereotype threat than men; they found out that age-based stereotype affects people differently according to their gender. The author stated that older people experience different forms of discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, and disability. However, women’s perceptions of age discrimination are higher among white women than among racial-ethnic minority populations. While most studies of age discrimination find few if any gender-based differences [ 27 ].

Finally, we can hypothesis the fourth and last hypothesis:

Women’s age moderates the relationship between institutional design, glass ceiling syndromes, traditional stereotypes, and gender equality in public organizations.

Research model

See Fig.  1 .

Model of the research

The researchers conducted a qualitative and quantitative study. A mixed methodology approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, offers valuable insights and enhances the comprehensiveness of understanding in research [ 12 , 31 , 60 ]. By employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, researchers can gain a deeper understanding of the research topic from different perspectives, enriching the overall analysis and interpretation of findings, and brings several advantages: Firstly, it allows for triangulation “Triangulation is a key methodological strategy that enhances the validity and reliability of research findings by using multiple sources, methods, or perspectives to converge and corroborate evidence [ 34 ]”, where findings from different methods are compared and validated, enhancing the reliability and credibility of the research [ 32 ]. Secondly, it enables a comprehensive understanding of the research topic by capturing both the depth of individual experiences and the broader patterns or trends within a larger population [ 61 ]. This comprehensive understanding is especially relevant in complex research areas where multiple factors and contexts interact. By employing a mixed methodology approach, researchers can leverage the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods, leading to a more robust and holistic understanding of the research topic [ 32 ]. The qualitative data provide depth and richness, while the quantitative data provide breadth and statistical significance. Quantitative methods, such as surveys or statistical analyses, provide researchers with numerical data that can be analyzed to identify patterns, trends, and relationships [ 32 , 61 ].

This integration between qualitative and quantitative approaches helps researchers gain a more nuanced understanding of the research phenomenon, its underlying mechanisms, and potential relationships between variables.

The qualitative study

The study is presented by the literature review, in addition to the exploratory study, where researchers conducted 20 in-depth interviews. The number of interviews conducted was determined by the principle of data saturation, where new information and insights reached a point of redundancy. This ensured that a thorough exploration of the research topic was achieved through a sufficient number of interviews. In our study, we followed the principle of saturation when determining the sample size for the qualitative interviews [ 23 ]. We conducted interviews with participants until we reached a point of saturation, where new interviews no longer yielded substantially new insights or perspectives related to our research objectives. This allowed us to capture a diverse range of experiences and perspectives from participants who were knowledgeable and had relevant insights into the topic of gender equality in public organizations in Egypt. Qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews or focus groups, allow researchers to explore the experiences, perceptions, and subjective interpretations of participants [ 32 , 61 ]. Through open-ended questions and detailed exploration, qualitative data provide rich and context-specific information that captures the nuances and complexities of the research phenomenon.

In summary, the consolidation of quantitative and qualitative results offers a holistic comprehension of the determinants that impact gender parity within governmental institutions. The user underscores the importance of institutional design, traditional stereotypes, and age as crucial determinants, while also indicating a lack of association between glass ceiling syndromes and gender parity. The aforementioned insights possess the potential to enlighten policymakers and organizations in their efforts to advance gender equality and establish all-encompassing settings.

Participants’ demographics

The selection of the qualitative research participants is designed to ensure that researchers captured social differences and diversity within the selected sample.

Participants’ number

The total number of participants are Twenty.

Participants’ gender and occupations

The researchers targeted men and women from different age categories and social/educational classes, 18 participants were community leaders, non-governmental organization (NGO) members, activists, business owners, bankers, and 2 participants were high ranked public position holders.

Participants’ age

Participants’ age ranged between 30 and 58.

Results and discussion

Qualitative research findings, findings of the participants’ interview.

To sum up participants’ opinions and views toward women equality in public organizations, researchers are presenting followings the topics of the interview (in bold) and underneath the participants’ answers.

When researchers addressed the participants with a question regarding the effect of traditional stereotyping on gender equality in public organizations, many of them answered saying that ‘negative stereotypes’ toward women are affecting their attainment of high ranked positions in the public sector. Cultural, socio-economic and political environment especially in developing countries is marginalizing women’s role, as men in these countries have definitely better chances in holding higher governmental positions. They also mentioned that there is a dogmatic belief that women in general are docile, patient and tolerant of certain jobs like teachers, secretaries or clerical jobs.

Then, researchers approached the respondents with a question regarding the “Glass Ceiling Syndrome” and its impact on gender equality in public organizations. The majority of respondents answered saying most women are not aware of the ‘glass ceiling syndrome’ effect or they do not care about having higher positions. Actually, in developing countries in general, women are not familiar with this expression.

Researchers then asked respondents about age as a moderator between stereotypes, glass ceiling syndrome and institutional design affect gender equality in public organizations, the majority stated that age is not affecting women attainment of leading positions in public organizations; whereas gender and education level are playing a main role in hindering women’s attainment of leading positions in public organizations more than age factor. Few of them believe that age is affecting both genders in public organizations.

The researchers addressed two high ranked public position holders: The Undersecretary of Ministry of Public Business Sector and the Governor of Damietta Governorate with a question regarding gender equality and gender diversity in the public work environment. They argued that women are part of the society and there should be an equal distribution of power as gender equality is very crucial for democracy and a country’s development.

They also stated that the Holding Group signed a protocol with the International Finance Corporation in October 2022, which main terms were analyzing the current condition of gender equality and gender diversity in the public work environment. According to the protocol, it has been agreed to develop a plan for upgrading and developing the work environment of the Egypt Insurance Holding Group emphasizing equality and justice among both genders.

Finally, they mentioned that the Financial Regulatory Authority’ issued a law in August 2021 stating that women representation in any board of directors of the Financial Regulatory Authority subsidiaries, should not be less than 25% or at least there should be two-woman representatives in the board.

When researchers asked the participants about other demographic factors affecting women equality in the public organizations, many of them answered saying that one of the main reasons of depriving women from high positions in public organizations is that many women especially in Upper Egypt are prohibited by their families from education and from work outside their very limited domestic arena. Educated women and men are equally capable of performing the same jobs.

(The qualitative research questions are stated in Appendix 1 , pp. 20 & 21).

Quantitative research findings

The researchers developed a questionnaire containing self-administered statements in the form of Likert scale. The questionnaires were distributed among 300 employees to pick up information on respondents’ opinion about the effect of ‘institutional design’, the traditional stereotypes, the glass ceiling syndrome’ and ‘age’ (as a moderating factor between all three above-mentioned variables) on gender equality in public organizations, gender equality and to obtain numerical data for statistical analysis. Our responds were 251, and 41 questionnaires were excluded for missing data and non-validity, to reach approximately 210 valid questionnaires that were returned with respondent rate of 70% which is statistically acceptable for data analysis. The sample size for the survey was determined using appropriate sample size calculation techniques to ensure adequate statistical power and representativeness of the target population [ 53 ].

Descriptive research

Participants’ characteristics.

Table 1 the sample characteristics demonstrates that the respondents had a wide range of backgrounds. There were 94 females and 117 males in the study group. The majority of respondents were undergraduate students at a university (47.1 percent). Between students (45.7 percent) and employees in the private sector, people who answered the survey had a wide range of occupations to choose from (30.5 percent).

Testing hypotheses

Testing hypothesis 1: institutional design factors significantly affect gender equality in public organizations.

When it comes to the statement, “The extent to which traditional gender norms are embodied in informal rules and institutional legacies affect gender equality.” (4.25). As for the lowest man it addresses the statement saying “Institutional change is often gradual, as actors actively exploit the inherent ambiguities of institutions bias” (3.19). The descriptive results showed that indeed institutional design factors significantly affect gender equality in public organizations. Most participants agreed that institutional rules shape workforce behavior as they constrain some actors and empower others. They also agreed that institutions are substantively gendered through numerous mechanisms emerge from social norms that result in gender bias. The sample is homogeneous and representative because the standard deviation of all statements is less than 2 (Table 2 ).

Testing reliability for institutional design and women attainment of leadership positions in public affairs of the Egyptian government

Statements 1–10 were found to be trustworthy and consistent by "0.867" in the Cronbach's Alpha reliability test, which suggests that our variables are consistent with the intended variables. (Institutional design and women attainment of leadership positions). Thus, we can conclude that the claims accurately describe our data (Table 3 ).

Chi-square test

Kruskal–Wallis Test was valid as Table 4 reveals that there is a significant relationship between institutional design and women attainment of leadership positions in the government workforce. Depending on the significance of institutional design (0.000). The researchers came to the conclusion that H1 is accepted by utilizing the chi square approach.

It is clear from the table that there is a positive and strong association between institutional design and the number of Egyptian women in leadership positions. As Egyptians ladies have good communication and can compromise to solve problems, committed to their job and finally, they can cooperate easily with the external society. People attitude toward women in high positions of authority inside the government is seen as a liability. Correlation coefficients whose magnitude are between 0.3 and 0.5 indicate variables which have a moderate correlation.

The statistical results of this hypothesis revealed that the statements addressed to participants were trustworthy and reliable as Cronbach alpha was 0.867 and the mean of all statements was above 3 and standard deviation below 2, which indicates that data are clustered around the mean and the sample is homogeneous and representative. The p-value in Kruskal–Wallis Test as it was 0.000. The correlation test proved that there is a positive and strong association between institutional design and gender equality in public organizations. It read 0.342** (Table 5 ) It is clear from the table that there is a positive and strong association between institutional design and the number of Egyptian women in leadership positions. As such, Hypothesis 1 is accepted.

Testing Hypothesis 2: The “Glass Ceiling Syndrome” significantly affect gender equality in public organizations

The highest mean addressed the statement saying: “Glass ceiling syndrome is described as an invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from reaching decision-making positions” (4.12). The lowest mean addressed the following statement: “I believe, glass ceiling syndrome is arousing from gender inequality” (2.32). Most participants agreed with a high mean that despite legislation for equal opportunities for both genders and the increasing number of qualified women, they are still largely underrepresented in the decision-making process in all sectors. They less agreed that Glass ceiling syndrome shows up in our personal and social lives as well. The sample is homogeneous and representative because the standard deviation of all statements is less than 2 (Table 6 ).

Testing reliability of the relationship between glass ceiling syndrome and gender equality in public organizations.

Table 7 shows that Cronbach's Alpha is 0.712, which is larger than 0.6, it was determined that the statements are reliable and consistent.

The Kruskal–Wallis test in Table 8 indicates that there is insignificant relationship between the glass ceiling syndromes and women's advancement in the government workforce. Using the chi square approach, researchers decided that H2 was rejected because of the insignificance level of p -Value 0.178.

It is clear from Table 9 that there is a negative association between Glass ceiling syndrome and gender equality in public organizations. A value of  − 1 means a perfect negative association of rank. As such, a value of ( − 0.568) proves a negative association between the two variables. People attitude toward gender equality in public organizations is negatively insignificant affected by the glass ceiling syndrome.

If we have a look at the statistical results, we will notice that the Kruskal–Wallis test is valid, as it indicates that there is no correlation between traditional stereotyping and gender equality in public organizations. The P-value is 0.178, which is considered a significant negative level. There is no impact between glass ceiling syndromes on gender equality in the Egyptian public organizations. Moreover, all 11 statements in the descriptive part addressed to participants; proved that not all statements have a mean above 3, but few statements had a mean below 3. The sample is homogeneous and representative because the standard deviation of all statements is less than 2. H2 is rejected.

Testing Hypothesis 3: Traditional stereotypes significantly affect gender equality in public organizations

Participants agreed with the highest mean (4.12) that traditional gender stereotypes derive from the awkward division of men and women roles both in the home and at work. They agreed with the lowest mean among (3.27) that children learn about gender stereotypes from their immediate environment and the media, as such they learn how to behave in gender-appropriate ways (Table 10 ).

In general, participants believed that gender-based stereotypes are informed by social norms relating to ideals and practices of masculinity and femininity. The sample is homogeneous and representative because the standard deviation of all statements is less than 2.

Testing reliability for traditional stereotypes and gender equality in public organizations. Perception is compatible with assertions one through ten in Table 11 , which indicates that the reliability test was reliable and consistent with Cronbach's Alpha by "0.931," according to the above table. Because of this, we may conclude that the statements accurately measure our variables.

Chi-square table It is clear from Table 12 that there is a positive and strong association between traditional stereotypes and gender equality in public organizations.

As shown in Table 12 by the Kruskal–Wallis test, using the chi square approach, researchers decided to accept H3 because of the significance level of 0.000.

It is clear from Table 13 that there is a positive association between traditional stereotypes and gender equality in public organizations. Correlation coefficients whose magnitude are between 0.6 and 0.79 indicate variables which can be considered strongly correlated. This means, there is a strong relationship between traditional stereotypes and gender equality in public organizations.

Regarding hypothesis three, if we do the same above-mentioned steps, we have taken in comparing hypothesis two statistical and qualitative results, we’ll come up with the following:

First, the descriptive results confirmed most of respondents agree to some degree that traditional stereotypes are playing a vital role regarding gender equality in the public sector. The mean of most statements is above 3.00; as well as the sample is homogeneous and representative because the standard deviation of all statements is less than 2.

Furthermore, all statements addressed to the participants were reliable as Cronbach’s Alpha measured 0.931, which means the statements accurately measure what it supposed to measure (traditional stereotypes is significantly affecting gender equality in the public sector. Finally, according to the correlation test, it measured 0.751 and this means there is a substantial correlation between traditional stereotypes and gender equality in public organizations. Hypothesis 3 is accepted.

Testing Hypothesis 4: Women’ age is playing a moderating role in gender equality in public organization

See Tables 14 and 15 .

Structural model analysis

SEM was used to test the research hypotheses. In terms of its sizing, there were no problems with the model. The chi-square to degrees of freedom ratio was too low at 2.1, falling below the 3 cut off point. GFI is 0.92, CFI is 0.92, NFI is 0.92, and IFI is 0.93, with an RMSEA of 0.077." (Hair and colleagues 1998). Hypotheses 1 and 3 were found to be significant, according to the results (Tables 5 and 13 ).

Societal interactions and citizens' perceptions all had a positive impact on gender equality in public organizations. Whereas hypothesis 2 found to be insignificant according to the results of (Table 9 ) as glass ceiling syndromes has a negative impact on gender equality in public organizations. It is clear that age influences gender equality in public organizations (hypothesis 4) significantly with the highest degree for institutional design (4.490), and significantly for traditional stereotypes (1.754), but with insignificant relation for glass ceiling syndromes (2.231) then this supports hypothesis 4. Based on the results, authors discovered significant positive relation for institutional design and traditional stereotypes and negative relation for glass ceiling syndromes and all affected by age (Table 15 ).

According to the Structural Model Analysis (SEM), societal interactions and citizens' perception (H1 & H3) all had a positive impact on a woman's ability to rise to leadership positions. H2 was rejected due to the statistical results which indicated that glass ceiling syndromes have a negative impact on a gender equality in public organizations. (Table 9 ).

Looking at the SEM (Table 15 ) z-score for the variables: ‘Institutional design (ID)’; Traditional Stereotypes (TS)’; and Glass Ceiling (GC)’ that age influences gender equality in public organizations (hypothesis 4) significantly with the highest degree for institutional design (z-score: 4.490), and significantly for traditional stereotypes (1.754), but with insignificant relation for glass ceiling syndromes (2.231). Based upon the results researchers discovered significant positive relationship between institutional design and traditional stereotypes and a negative relationship between glass ceiling syndromes and all are affected by age (gender, age and education groups) this supports hypothesis 4.

Summary of hypotheses testing

See Table 16 .

The specific and standardize findings of the study

The qualitative research findings can be related to the quantitative research findings to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research topic. The specific findings related to institutional design and gender equality in public organizations indicate that institutional design factors significantly affect gender equality. Regarding hypothesis one, the research conducted found that institutional rules shape workforce behavior as they constrain some actors and empower others. It was also revealed that institutions are substantively gendered through numerous mechanisms that emerge from social norms, resulting in gender bias. The study further tested the reliability of institutional design and women's attainment of leadership positions in public affairs of the Egyptian government. The statements addressing participants were found to be trustworthy and consistent, with a Cronbach's Alpha reliability test score of 0.867. This suggests that the variables accurately describe the data. Additionally, a Chi-Square Test was conducted, which revealed a significant relationship between institutional design and women's attainment of leadership positions in the government workforce. The statistical results showed a positive and strong association between institutional design and the number of Egyptian women in leadership positions (gender equality).

Moreover, the p -value is 0.000 and the mean of all statements is above 3.6 & above 4, which proved a strong agreement among participants on all statements.

The correlation coefficient between institutional design and gender equality was 0.342, indicating a moderate correlation. Therefore, based on these specific findings, it can be concluded that institutional design plays a crucial role in shaping gender equality in public organizations. Hypothesis one is accepted.

The presence of this positive correlation suggests that institutional factors, such as established regulations, social norms, and operational procedures, exert influence on workforce conduct and results, including the attainment of gender equality. Moreover, the presence of women in positions of leadership can function as exemplars, motivating and encouraging other women to actively seek out leadership positions. This, in turn, fosters a positive feedback loop that promotes gender equality and empowerment.

As for the second hypothesis, the glass syndrome effect, it is described as an invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from reaching decision-making positions or attaining opportunities within organizations. It is a metaphor for the invisible barrier that prevents some people from rising to senior positions. The literature assures this relationship not only at work, but also in women’s social personal lives. The statistical results didn’t agree with the literature as the hypothesis is rejected as p-value is 0.178, which is bigger than 0.000 proving no relationship between the independent and dependent variables of the hypothesis. As well as the Correlation Coefficient is  − 0.568. A value of ( − 0.568) proves a negative association between the two variables. To explain that, we may say that glass ceiling syndrome is not the only factor affecting women equality in public organizations; other factors are affecting women’s equality in public organizations such as education, awareness, traditions and values as well as institutional designs and negative stereotypes of women in Egypt . Hypothesis two is rejected.

The third hypothesis: Traditional stereotypes significantly affect gender equality in public organizations. This time, again the literature and the statistical results align and agree. Participants believed that gender-based stereotypes are informed by social norms relating to ideals and practices of masculinity and femininity. The mean of all statements is above 3.9 & above 4. Cronbach alpha result was 0.931, which suggests that the variables are consistent with the intended variables. p -value is 0.000, which proves a positive and strong association between traditional stereotypes and gender equality in public organization. Hypothesis three is accepted.

The fourth hypothesis: Age is playing a moderating role between (Institutional design, Glass ceiling syndromes, and Citizens’ perception) and gender equality in public Egyptian public organizations. The literature stated that in comparison to men, women experienced 53% more discrimination in respect to age and gender [ 66 ]. The statistical results proved that p -value for (Institutional design, Glass ceiling syndromes, and Citizens’ perception) is (0.001, 0.064, 0.023) respectively. Age is playing a moderating role between (Institutional design, Glass ceiling syndromes, and Citizens’ perception) and gender equality in public Egyptian public organizations. H4 is accepted.

To conclude:

The findings reveal that traditional stereotypes significantly affect gender equality in public organizations. However, the glass syndrome effect hypothesis, which refers to the invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from reaching decision-making positions, was rejected. The statistical results did not align with the literature on this hypothesis. Overall, the combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods provides a comprehensive understanding of the research topic and enhances the validity and reliability of the findings.

Organizational practices that promote equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination policies are associated with greater workplace opportunities in general, as well as increased access to management. This is supported by many empirical findings. As such, the relationship between the institutional design, rules and regulations within the organization and women’s equality in public organizations is a positive relationship. That’s why statutory changes and rule of law are required to decrease gender inequality. Demanding electoral laws that promote alliances and create new opportunities for women to compete in parliamentary.

However, simply increasing women's representation in management may not be sufficient, as some findings suggest that the positive effects of managerial positions on inequality may be most significant at higher levels of management. Therefore, gender integration at lower management levels may not produce the ripple effects that come with integrating positions that possess real power and authority. Symbolic changes or changes limited to lower management levels are likely to be ineffective.

Regarding Gender Stereotypes , more evidence is needed to establish whether female managers may indirectly influence inequality within organizations. These indirect effects operate through processes rooted in social cognition. For instance, the visibility of women in leadership positions can challenge stereotypes that suggest women managers are less effective than their male counterparts.

On the other hand, the presence of women in management may also reduce the emphasis on gender as a relevant category, influencing the beliefs of all workers regarding women leaders. This perspective aligns partially with the "queen bee" viewpoint [ 54 ], which argues that successful women do not support other women but instead conform to the norms of the male-dominated system. The “queen bee” viewpoint also may align with the eastern culture especially developing eastern countries like Egypt, and that goes hand in hand with the previous literature findings and statistical findings of this study (H3 is accepted).

As for the “Glass Ceiling Syndrome” effect, researchers rely the contradiction between the literature findings and this study’s empirical findings to cultural issues.

Most female leaders do not feel glass-ceiling effects because either they are not aware of this issue or they do not care about having higher positions. Researchers believe that ‘Glass Ceiling Syndrome’ is a metaphor for the invisible barrier that prevents some people from rising to senior positions. This applies for women and other minorities who could be men as well. So, ‘glass ceiling syndrome is not referring to women only, but also to a wide range of minorities. It does not have a direct positive effect on gender equality in public organizations in Egypt. Researchers believe the ‘glass ceiling syndrome’ is a metaphor for the invisible barrier that prevents some people from rising to senior positions. This applies for women and other minorities who could be men as well. It does not have a direct positive effect on gender equality in public organizations in Egypt.

The literature and the statistical findings assured that women age is playing a positive moderating role between institutional design, glass ceiling syndromes, traditional stereotypes, and gender equality in public organizations, respectively. Although, the exploratory interview results revealed that respondents (especially the two informed participants) did not acknowledge this relationship. They believed age is playing a moderating role for both genders.

The researchers would like to highlight the answers of the two informed participants regarding age factor in general and its relationship with women’s equality in the public sector; they clarified that age is affecting both genders not only women as the retirement age in the Egyptian public sector is 60 years old for males and females as well.

In conclusion, further research is indispensable to uncover the mechanisms that lead to increased diversity in top management positions and to understand how managerial diversity shapes the opportunities and achievements of employees below the managerial level. This necessitates robust data collection efforts that allow for rigorous testing of how specific organizational policies, practices, and other factors influence access to top management positions for members of protected groups.

Recommendations

Based upon the statistical and qualitative research results, researchers came up with following recommendations.

Further research is indispensable to uncover the mechanisms that lead to increased diversity in top management positions and to understand how managerial diversity shapes the opportunities and achievements of employees below the managerial level. This necessitates robust data collection efforts that allow for rigorous testing of how specific organizational policies, practices, and other factors influence access to top management positions for members of protected groups.

Gender integration at lower management levels may not produce the ripple effects that come with integrating positions that possess real power and authority. Symbolic changes or changes limited to lower management levels are likely to be ineffective. To address larger patterns of inequality and improve representation for women and other protected groups, interventions may be necessary at multiple levels to cultivate organizational leaders who are more than mere figureheads.

Organizations, especially the public ones, should develop measures to reconcile work and family life which would increase the attractiveness of work not only for women—mothers, but also for men—fathers.

Organizations should create equal opportunities for employment and career advancement for all employees equally, regardless of gender and provide working conditions that ensure equal opportunities for men and women following the code of ethics.

Merely examining laws and modifying discriminatory statutes is not enough to address gender inequality effectively. Achieving true gender equality goes beyond ensuring equal rights; it also requires providing equitable access to services, resources, economic opportunities, and political representation.

Maintaining policy co-ordination is crucial to ensure the continuous progress of gender reform. This co-ordination should occur both horizontally, involving various government entities at the central or federal level, and vertically, fostering collaboration between different levels of government. This approach is necessary because achieving gender equality and integrating it into mainstream practices often involves implementing cross-cutting initiatives that impact multiple policy domains.

Enhance opportunities for women's organizations to engage in the policy-making process in a manner that is inclusive and transparent. This can be accomplished by involving them in advisory bodies that are regularly consulted by the government. By including women's organizations in these advisory roles, their perspectives and expertise can be effectively incorporated into the policy-making process.

Implement policies aimed at promoting better work-life balance and creating a more women-friendly environment within legislatures. This can be achieved by adopting gender-sensitive parliamentary practices and procedures. Such measures can help ensure that legislative bodies are accommodating and responsive to the needs and experiences of women, facilitating their active participation and representation in decision-making processes.

Focusing on commonalities as people have many shared values and principles. It is important for both men and women leaders to share their experiences to identify what is common and what is different. This will enrich diversity and inclusion within an organization and will enforce sustainability.

Decision makers in organizations need to give special attention to senior workers and employees training and invest in a career development program. These programs and also career counseling provide senior employees with long-term support for improving their skills, abilities and competencies.

Shaping a positive age climate and age-friendly organizational culture can reduce ageism challenges; and it will also lead to an appreciation of age diversity at workplace.

Offer media training programs focused on eliminating gender stereotypes. These training sessions can educate media professionals on recognizing and challenging gender biases and stereotypes in their work. By equipping them with the necessary knowledge and tools, media practitioners can contribute to creating a more inclusive and equitable media landscape that promotes gender equality and representation.

It is very important to set up a role model for women empowerment especially at grass roots level to encompass political, economic, and justice issues in these communities.

Women leaders should work toward dealing with the stereotype that women are weak participants in political systems.

Availability of data and materials

The authors declare they have full access to all study data, take fully responsibility for the accuracy of the data analysis, and have authority over manuscript preparation and decisions to submit the manuscript for publication. The author confirms that all data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the body and in the appendixes of this research.s

Abbreviations

Comparative fit index

Glass ceiling

• Glass ceiling syndromes
• Gender equality

Goodness-of-fit index

• Institutional design

International Finance Corporation

Incremental fit index

Normed fit index

Non-Governmental Organization

Root mean square error of approximation

Standard deviation

Structural equation modelling

Statistical package for social sciences

Trust model

• Traditional stereotypes

Alon-Shenker P, MacDermott T (2019) Intersecting Age and gender in workplace discrimination complaints. Comp Lab L Pol’y J 41:521

Google Scholar  

Al-Qahtani MMZ, Alkhateeb TTY, Mahmood H, Abdalla MAZ, Qaralleh TJOT (2020) The role of the academic and political empowerment of women in economic, social and managerial empowerment: The case of Saudi Arabia. Economies 8(2):45

Article   Google Scholar  

Alsaad RI, Hamdan A, Binsaddig R, Kanan MA (2023) Empowerment sustainability perspectives for Bahraini women as entrepreneurs. Int J Innov Stud 7(4):245–262

Awoa PA, Ondoa HA, Tabi HN (2022) Women’s political empowerment and natural resource curse in developing countries. Resour Policy 75:102442

Babic A, Hansez I (2021) The glass ceiling for women managers: antecedents and consequences for work-family interface and well-being at work. Front Psychol 12:618250

Bian L, Leslie SJ, Cimpian A (2017) Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests. Science 355(6323):389–391

Blalock EC, Lyu X (2023) The patriot-preneur–China’s strategic narrative of women entrepreneurs in Chinese media. Entrep Region Dev 35(3–4):264–296

Boulos S, La Barbera M (2023) Obstacles to and opportunities for protecting human rights at the city level: The case of Madrid City Council Human Rights Plan (2017–2019). Int J Hum Rights 27(4):659–684

Brown NJ, Dunne MD, Hamzawy A (2007) Egypt’s controversial constitutional amendments, vol 23. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington

Chaudhary S, Qamar U, Qamar N (2021) Glass ceiling: a comparison between public and private sector university. Governance and Management Review (GMR) Volume 6, No. 1, Jan-Jun 2021

Cornwall A (2016) Women’s empowerment: What works? J Int Dev 28(3):342–359

Creswell JW (2009) Mapping the field of mixed methods research. J Mixed Methods Res 3(2):95–108

Davinić M, Kristoffersson E, Marinković T (2023). Gender equality aspects of public law. Gender-Competent Legal Education, 305

de Lange AH, van der Heijden BI, Jong ND, Bal PM, Schaufeli WB (2010). Psychological contract breach and work motivation: the moderating role of time perspective and regulatory focus

DiMaggio PJ, Powell WW (1983) The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. Am Sociol Rev, 147–160

Drabe D, Hauff S, Richter NF (2015) Job satisfaction in aging workforces: an analysis of the USA, Japan and Germany. Int J Hum Resour Manage 26(6):783–805

Eagly AH (2013) Sex differences in social behavior: a social-role interpretation. Psychology Press, London

Book   Google Scholar  

Elacqua TC, Beehr TA, Hansen CP, Webster J (2009) Manager’s beliefs about the glass ceiling: interpersonal and organizational factors. Psychol Women Q 33:285–294. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2009.01501.x

El-Haddad A (2023) Political patronage and economic opportunity: vertical integration in egyptian textiles and clothing. Eur J Dev Res 35:1224–1257

Fakhr El Din H, Samy C, Miniesy R (2022) Women entrepreneurs in Egypt. In: Women entrepreneurs in North Africa: historical frameworks, ecosystems and new perspectives for the region, pp 137–161

Gains F, Lowndes V (2016). How is Gender implicated in institutional design and change? The role of informal institutions: a case study of police and crime commissioners in England and Wales

Global Gender Gap Report (2021)-weforum.org; retrieved at: https://www3.weforum.org

Guest G, Bunce A, Johnson L (2006) How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods 18(1):59–82

Halim H, Halim Y (2012) Auditing human resource management practices in the hospitality industry—a proactive approach. Egypt J Tourism Hosp vol 19 Issue 1

Halim H, Halim Y (2012) Emotional Intelligence and Employee Performance in the Hospitality Industry in Egypt Egypt J Tourism Hosp vol 19 Issue 1

Halim YT, Emara OAE (2018) Emotional intelligence management improvement effect: enhancing employees’ performance in the state-owned hotels in Egypt. J Commer Environ Stud (JCES) 9(2):2090–3782

Harnois CE (2015) Age and gender discrimination: Intersecting inequalities across the lifecourse. At the center: feminism, social science and knowledge, vol 20. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bradford, pp 85–109

Hegazy M, El-Deeb MS, Hamdy HI, Halim YT (2023) Effects of organizational climate, role clarity, turnover intention, and workplace burnout on audit quality and performance. J Account Organ Change. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAOC-12-2021-0192

Hentschel T, Heilman ME, Peus CV (2019) The multiple dimensions of gender stereotypes: a current look at men’s and women’s characterizations of others and themselves. Front Psychol 10:11

Hernández-Truyol BE (2023) Awakening the law: unmasking free exercise exceptionalism. Emory Law Journal 72(5):1061

Hirose M, Creswell JW (2023) Applying core quality criteria of mixed methods research to an empirical study. J Mixed Methods Res 17(1):12–28

Ivankova NV, Plano Clark VL (2018) Teaching mixed methods research: using a socio-ecological framework as a pedagogical approach for addressing the complexity of the field. Int J Soc Res Methodol 21(4):409–424

Jain N, Mukherji S (2010) The perception of ‘glass ceiling’ in indian organizations: an exploratory study. South Asian J Manage 17(1):1

Jick TD (1979) Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: triangulation in action. Adm Sci Q 24(4):602–611

Bockarie JI (2021) Glass ceiling syndrome effects on women empowerment, research paper, USA

Khairy YH, Ghoneim H (2023) Women’s access and perception of decent work: a case study on Egypt. Manage Sustain Arab Rev 2(2):177–202

Lombardi CB, Brown NJ (2005) Do constitutions requiring adherence to Shari’a threaten human rights-how Egypt’s constitutional court reconciles Islamic law with the liberal rule of law. Am U Int’l L Rev 21:379

Louden-Cooke S (2023) Power, politics & resistance: secularism and women’s marital rights in Egypt and Iran. Br J Middle Eastern Stud. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2023.2185591

Manzi C, Sorgente A, Reverberi E, Tagliabue S, Gorli M (2021) Double Jeopardy-analyzing the combined effect of age and gender stereotype threat on older workers. Front Psychol 11:606690

Mapedza E, Huyer S, Chanana N, Rose A, Jacobs-Mata I, Mudege NN, Nohayi N (2023) Framework for incorporating gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) elements in climate information services (CIS). Sustainability 15(1):190

Merry SE (2003) Constructing a global law-violence against women and the human rights system. Law Soc Inq 28(4):941–977

Mntambo S, Adebayo P, Ndinda C (2023) Women, informal settlements, and the policy practice disjuncture in South Africa. The Palgrave handbook of global social problems. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 1–22

Mousa M (2023) From Intersectionality to substantive representation: Determinants of the representation of women faculty in academic contexts: Voices of Egyptian academic leaders. Int J Public Adm 46(2):97–106

Nehemia NM, Lenkoe NM (2023) The impact of South African culture on the work-life balance of women in leadership positions. Int J Innov Res Sci Stud 6(2):212–226

Ng TW, Eby LT, Sorensen KL, Feldman DC (2005) Predictors of objective and subjective career success: a meta-analysis. Pers Psychol 58(2):367–408

Perianes Bermúdez AB (2022) Women’s economic empowerment after the COVID-19: state of the art and significance for the women, peace and security agenda. Secur Dial 13(2):63–83

Pinto P, Aquinas PG (2018) Glass ceiling effect on women employees: a panoramic view. ZENITH Int J Multidiscipl Res 8(2):46–56

Ragasa C, Kyle J, Kristjanson P, Eissler S (2023). Conceptualizing women’s empowerment in agrifood systems governance: a new framework (Vol 2153). Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Raimi L, Panait M, Gigauri I, Apostu SA (2023) Thematic review of motivational factors, types of uncertainty, and entrepreneurship strategies of transitional entrepreneurship among ethnic minorities, immigrants, and women entrepreneurs. J Risk Financ Manage 16(2):83

Ross CE, Mirowsky J (2002) Age and the gender gap in the sense of personal control. Social Psychol Quart 65:125–145

Sharma S, Kaur R (2019) Glass ceiling for women and work engagement: the moderating effect of marital status. FIIB Bus Rev 8(2):132–146

Siamak Seyfi ID (2023) The gendered effects of statecraft on women in tourism: economic sanctions, women’s disempowerment and sustainability?. Gender and Tourism Sustainability

Singh AS, Masuku MB (2014) Sampling techniques & determination of sample size in applied statistics research: an overview. Int J Econ Commerce Manage 2(11):1–22

Staines G, Tavris C, Jayaratne TE (1974) The queen bee syndrome. Psychol Today 7:55–60

Stewart R, Wright B, Smith L, Roberts S, Russell N (2021) Gendered stereotypes and norms: a systematic review of interventions designed to shift attitudes and behavior. Heliyon 7(4):e06660

Stivers C, Pandey SK, DeHart-Davis L, Hall JL, Newcomer K, Portillo S, Sabharwal M, Strader E, Wright J (2023) Beyond social equity: talking social justice in public administration. Public Adm Rev 83(2):229–240

Sweeting L (2020) Bruised but never broken: the fight for gender equality in Egypt and Bangladesh. Global Majority 11(2):102–116

Tabassum N, Nayak BS (2021) Gender stereotypes and their impact on women’s career progressions from a managerial perspective. IIM Kozhikode Soc Manage Rev 10(2):192–208

Tabet K, Menhall N, Mortada H, Hanna J, Hammad M (2019) Counting on women’s work without counting women’s work: women’s unpaid work in Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt

Tashakkori A, Creswell JW (2007) The new era of mixed methods. J Mixed Methods Res 1(1):3–7

Tashakkori A, Teddlie C (2010) Putting the human back in ‘“human research methodology”’: the researcher in mixed methods research. J Mixed Methods Res 4(4):271–277

United Nations (2022) Advocacy Brief-Older Women-OHCH; Retrieved at: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/UN-Advocacy-Brief-Older-Women.pdf

United States. Federal Glass Ceiling Commission. (1995). Good for business: making full use of the nation's human capital: a fact-finding report of the federal glass ceiling commission. US Government Printing Office

Varón, D. A., & Mello, R. C. (2020). Feminizing politics: the impact of gendered institutions on women’s political influence and representation

Wilkinson J, Male T (2023) Perceptions of women senior leaders in the UK Higher Education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educ Manage Adm Leader, 17411432221150079

Windsor RS (2020) The moderating effects of gender and occupation on age discrimination in hiring (Doctoral dissertation, San Jose State University)

Zaazou Z, Tawfik Y (2018) Leadership traits’ impact on employees’ performance in the banking sector (A Field Study on Bank Misr). J Manager Res Sadat Acad Manage Sci 36(1):167–193

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all of the respondents who show sincere interest and dedicated their time in contributing in this research paper.

Authors declare that funding of preparing this study or further processing of its publication in case of approval is totally borne by themselves.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

October University for Modern Sciences and Arts, Giza, Egypt

Yasser Tawfik Halim, Zeinab Abbas Zaazou & Mohamed Samy El-Deeb

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

YT has scrutinized the literature and formulated the research gap. In addition, he wrote down the literature review. ZA formulated the methodical framework of this study to achieve the desired objectives. He selected the sample size from the available population, and has designed, together with MS the data collection instrument and suggested the method of data analysis. ZA has presented the discussion of results. The discussion of different collected data presented in the results. YT and MS contributed to this research by collaborating with MS and ZA in the design of the data collection instruments. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yasser Tawfik Halim .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

The authors confirm that they have read, understand and agreed to the submission guidelines, policies and submission declaration of the journal. A local ethics committee ruled that no formal ethics approval was required in this particular research, they only asked to have a copy of the published report after the research has been completed.

Consent for publication

Consent for participant is not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Participants interview questions

In your opinion, what are the social barriers that hinder women empowerment and attainment of leading positions in public organizations?

Do gender stereotypes play an important role in denying women opportunities of attaining high positions in the public sector?

Do negative stereotypes in rural places and upper Egypt regarding women’s rights in education and work affect their opportunities in attaining leading positions in the public sector?

Are community negative stereotypes are the reason behind limiting women chances of working in government’s leading positions.

What about society’s acceptance of women holding high ranked positions in the public sector?

What is the society’s main perception of women capabilities of succeeding in high ranked positions in the public sector?

What about women abilities of increasing value in political participation?

Does society in rural areas and upper Egypt question women’s capabilities of making rational decisions, and coping with emotional stress and challenges?

Do you believe that older women have less opportunities in holding high ranked positions in public organizations?

Do you think older women suffer from discriminative decisions and actions in public organizations?

In your opinion, do rules and regulations and public institutional designs affect women’s equality and empowerment in public organizations?

Do you believe, the combination of age and institutional design factors are prohibiting women’s attainment of high ranked positions in the public sector?

Research questionnaire in likert scale form

The following statements are measuring the Institutional design factors towards gender equality in public organizations, so please indicate your level of agreement towards the following statements. (5 strongly agree - 4 agree - 3 neutral - 2 disagree - 1 strongly disagree)

The following statements are measuring the “Glass Ceiling Syndrome” toward gender equality in public organizations, so please indicate your level of agreement toward the following statements. (5 strongly agree—4 agree—3 neutral—2 disagree—1 strongly disagree).

The following statements are measuring the Traditional stereotypes toward gender equality in public organizations, so please indicate your level of agreement toward the following statements. (5 strongly agree—4 agree—3 neutral—2 disagree—1 strongly disagree).

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Halim, Y.T., Zaazou, Z.A. & El-Deeb, M.S. Factors affecting gender equality in public organizations in Egypt. Futur Bus J 9 , 99 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00269-2

Download citation

Received : 06 February 2023

Accepted : 25 October 2023

Published : 02 December 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00269-2

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Age as a moderating factor

An Overview of Gender Equality in Egypt

• December 2019
• European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 11(2):57-68
• 11(2):57-68
• This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations

No full-text available

To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author.

• Wesam Kamal Farag
• Shaimaa Mohamed Amin

• samer Elsakka
• Tradingeconomics
• J Tyldesley
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

Gender Equality in Egypt

• Living reference work entry
• First Online: 11 February 2022
• Cite this living reference work entry

• Samy Tayie 3 &
• Mohamed H. Mekkawi 3  

157 Accesses

This chapter deals with the situation of women in Egypt. In so doing, different relevant articles in the Egyptian constitutions and laws will be dealt with. Initially, the chapter will shed light on the situation of women according to the Egyptian constitution of 2014, which was amended in 2019. Then the Penal Code will be discussed. Different rights of women according to the Labor Law as well as the civil service law will also be discussed. The situation of women in the nationality law will also be discussed. The chapter will also present the rights of women with respect to inheritance according to the Islamic law. The position of women regarding appointment in the judicial bodies will also be clarified. Finally, law of the National Council Egyptian will be dealt with.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Gendering the Law in Egypt: A Tale of Two Constitutions

Gender Equality and International Human Rights Law in Kyrgyzstan

Essential reading.

Abdelsattar, F. 2018. Explanation of the penal code: General section . 2nd ed. Cairo: Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya.

Google Scholar  

Akram, K.H. 2021. Women empowerment and gender equality: An overview of Egypt’s startling policies. Cairo. AhramOnline newspaper . Article available at: https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/412937/Opinion/Women-Empowerment-and-Gender-Equality-An-Overview-.aspx

Belal, A.A. 2014. Introduction to criminology and penology Dar 2014 . Cairo: Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya.

Constant, L., I. Edochie, P. Glick, J. Martini, and C.H. Garber. 2020. Barriers to employment that women face in Egypt policy challenges and considerations . Santa Monica: RAND Corporation. Available to download the PDF at https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2868.html

Cristofoletti, T.H. 2021. Gender equality and women’s empowerment . USIAD. Article available at: https://www.usaid.gov/egypt/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment

Elhamidi, F. 2021. Women, work and the Egyptian law . Cairo: Alternative Policy Solutions. Article available at: https://aps.aucegypt.edu/en

Elrashidy, H. 2014. Women’s rights in the Egyptian constitution, legislations, and international covenants . Studies in human rights. Article Available at: https://hrightsstudies.sis.gov.eg/%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1/%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A3%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AB%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9/

Elsaman, R. 2020. 10 Years since the revolution: Why ending discrimination against women in Egyptian judiciary is still slowing? Washington: Wilson Center Middle East Women Innovative. Article available at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/10-years-revolution-why-ending-discrimination-against-women-egyptian-judiciary-still

El-Shaeer, R. 2020. The constitutional law . Cairo.

Hausmann, R., Y. Bekhouche, S. Zahidi, and L.D. Tyson. 2020. Global gender gap report 2020 . Colony/Geneva: World Economic Forum. Available as a PDF file at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf

———. 2021. Global gender gap report 2021 . Colony/Geneva: World Economic Forum. Available as a PDF file at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2021.pdf

Hibbett, K. 2018. The importance of gender inequality in Egypt. San Francisco USA. BORGEN Magazine . Available at https://borgenproject.org/gender-inequality-in-egypt/

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). 2018. Country gender profile (Arab Republic of Egypt) survey report . Available as a PDF file at: https://openjicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/12305181.pdf

Kamel, Sh. 2016. Penal law: Persons assault crimes . Cairo: Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya.

Kaplia, K.M. 2021. Rethinking the future of Women’s empowerment in Egypt: Economic engagement & COVID-19. Washington USA. MARKETLINKS USAID. Article available at: https://www.marketlinks.org/blogs/rethinking-future-womens-empowerment-egypt-economic-engagement-covid-19

Magdy, N. 2021. 19% of Egyptian women experienced increased gender-based violence since COVID outbreak: Survey. Egypt Today Magazine . Article available at: https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/105693/19-of-Egyptian-women-experienced-increased-gender-based-violence-since

Moore, M. 2020. Women’s rights in Egypt. San Francisco USA. BORGEN Magazine . (Abstract) Available at: https://www.borgenmagazine.com/womens-rights-in-egypt/

Nassar, M. 2020. Egypt first African, MENA state to launch “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator,” Cairo: CRSEGYPT. Available at: https://www.csregypt.com/en/egypt-first-african-mena-state-to-launch-closing-the-gender-gap-accelerator/

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Labor Organization (ILO), and Centre de la Femme Arabe pour la Formation et la Recherche (CAWTAR). 2020. Changing laws and breaking barriers for women’s economic empowerment in Egypt . Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, Competitiveness and Private Sector Development. Paris: OECD Publishing. Book available as a PDF file at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-africa/%2D%2D-ro-abidjan/%2D%2D-sro-cairo/documents/publication/wcms_760505.pdf

Salama, M.M. 2018. Penal code: Private section, part two: Crimes of assault on persons and funds . Cairo: Salama for Publishing and Distribution.

Semeda, R. 2016. Labor law. Cairo.

Silver, G. 2020. Creating economic gender parity in Egypt. San Francisco USA. BORGEN Magazine . Available at: https://borgenproject.org/tag/gender-equality-in-egypt/

Sorour, A.F. 2015. Mediator in the penal code: General section . Cairo: Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya.

———. 2019. Mediator in the penal code: Private section . Cairo: Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya.

The civil service Law No. 81 of 2016.

The Egyptian Constitution of 2014 amended in 2019.

The Global Economy, Business and Economic Data for 200 countries, website. Available at https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Egypt/

The Labor Law No. 12 of 2013.

The National Council for Women Law no. 30 of 2018.

The Nationality Law No. 26 of 1975 and its amendments.

The Penal Law No. 58 of 1937 and its amendments.

The World Bank Annual Report. 2020. Supporting countries in unprecedented times, the World Bank, Washington USA . The report available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/annual-report#anchor-annual

UN Women Report. 2020. Women’s needs and gender equality in Egypt’s COVID-19 response . Report available as a PDF file at: https://www2.unwomen.org/-/media/field%20office%20egypt/attachments/publications/2020/04/unwomen_brief_covid-19_egypt_response.pdf?la=en&vs=5554

Zamzam, A. 2017. Nationality and status of foreigners . Cairo.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Samy Tayie & Mohamed H. Mekkawi

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samy Tayie .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo Abogados, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Javier Cremades

Public Law II & Philology, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Cristina Hermida

Section Editor information

Royal European Academy of Doctors, Barcelona, Spain

Teresa Freixes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Cite this entry.

Tayie, S., Mekkawi, M.H. (2022). Gender Equality in Egypt. In: Cremades, J., Hermida, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Contemporary Constitutionalism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31739-7_116-1

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31739-7_116-1

Received : 17 August 2021

Accepted : 26 September 2021

Published : 11 February 2022

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-319-31739-7

Online ISBN : 978-3-319-31739-7

eBook Packages : Springer Reference Law and Criminology Reference Module Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Browse Econ Literature

• Working papers
• Software components
• Book chapters
• JEL classification

More features

• Subscribe to new research

RePEc Biblio

Author registration.

• Economics Virtual Seminar Calendar NEW!

Some searches may not work properly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

An Overview of Gender Equality in Egypt

• Author & abstract
• Related works & more

Corrections

• HASSAN Hend

Suggested Citation

Download full text from publisher.

Follow serials, authors, keywords & more

Public profiles for Economics researchers

Various research rankings in Economics

RePEc Genealogy

Who was a student of whom, using RePEc

Curated articles & papers on economics topics

Upload your paper to be listed on RePEc and IDEAS

New papers by email

Subscribe to new additions to RePEc

EconAcademics

Blog aggregator for economics research

Cases of plagiarism in Economics

About RePEc

Initiative for open bibliographies in Economics

News about RePEc

Questions about IDEAS and RePEc

RePEc volunteers

Participating archives

Publishers indexing in RePEc

Privacy statement

Found an error or omission?

Opportunities to help RePEc

Get papers listed

Have your research listed on RePEc

Open a RePEc archive

Have your institution's/publisher's output listed on RePEc

Get RePEc data

Use data assembled by RePEc