Overview of the project

In the frame of the Consortium (RPC) on Pathways of Women’s Empowerment, the Social Research Center- the American University in Cairo with the funding from the CIDA have initiated the SRC/CIDA research program for research policy papers and policy briefs on gender and work.
The project aimed at producing policy research papers and policy briefs on the various factors affecting women and work at the four levels: the household level, the enterprise level, the economy level and the global economy level.
 

The SRC/CIDA research program on "Gender and Work" aimed at:
	Issuing policy research papers and policy briefs on women and work
	Producing guidelines and recommendations that are supported by empirical knowledge, for policies and actions to support women work as a tool for women economic and social empowerment.
	Encouraging evidence based debate on needed policies for women economic empowerment.
	Contributing to an open environment of data access and effective use of field surveys in policy research papers

The project produced two outputs:

Four Research Papers These papers are tackling different important aspects of women work in Egypt. These included examining work and women economic empowerment in the Egyptian context, the relation between education, women empowerment and work in Egypt. Another important aspect the project looked at is the evolution of wage and job quality for men and women in the Egyptian labor market in the formal private and public sectors over the period (1998-2006). The fourth research paper examined an important new topic which has emerged recently as a result of the increased technological development which is the information and communication technology (ICT). It aims at assessing the impact of ICT on gender equality in Egypt focusing on differentials in wage rates and employment opportunities.

Based on the results of the research papers; Four policy briefs These briefs were prepared that aimed at providing the policy maker with clear and concrete policy advice. The briefs were prepared in Arabic.

 
Consultative Group Meetings:

In preparing the research papers and the policy briefs; the SRC/CIDA research program on gender and work have benefited from various consultative group meetings where participants from academia, research, donor organizations offered advice and guide to the researchers in designing their research work as well as in formulating the policy advice.

Within the framework of the SRC/CIDA Research Grants Program on Gender and Work; Four consultative group meetings were held to offer advice and guide to the researchers in formulating and constructing their hypothesis and research questions.
The First meeting was held in June 2008. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the proposed research topics for the project.
The Second Consultative Group Meeting was held in July 2008 to discuss more thoroughly the complete research proposals of the researchers. The group attended the meeting were: Dr Hoda Rashad, Dr.Heba Nassar, Dr Hania Sholkany, Dr. Suzanne Yoke, Ms. Ghada Barsoum , Dr. Ragui Asaad,| Ms. Martina Rikker, Dr. Sahar El Sheneity and Ms. Iman Omran.
The Third Consultative Group Meeting was held in December 2008 to discuss the first draft of the research papers and the policy briefs.
The Final and the Fourth Consultative Group Meeting was held in May 2009 with Dr. Hoda Rashed, Dr. Heba Nassar and Dr. Hania Sholkamy to finalize the discussions and comments on the research papers and the policy briefs in light of the comments provide by the reviewers and CIDA.

Main Data Sources:

The project benefited from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey of 2006 (ELMPS 06). ELMPS 06 is a follow-up survey to the Egypt Labor Market Survey of 1998 (ELMS 98), which was carried out in November-December 1998 by the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in cooperation with the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) – the main statistical agency of the Egyptian government . ELMS 98 was carried out on a nationally-representative sample of 4,816 households and was designed to be comparable to the special round of the Egyptian Labor Force Survey carried out in October 1988 (LFSS 88). The ELMPS 06 is the second round of what is intended to be a periodic longitudinal survey that tracks the labor market and demographic characteristics of the households and individuals interviewed in 1998, any new households that might have formed as a result of splits from the original households, as well as a refresher sample of households to ensure that the data continue to be nationally representative.
The final sample of 8,349 households is made up of 3,684 households from the original
ELMS 98 survey, 2,167 new households that emerged from these households as a result of splits, and a refresher sample of 2,498 households. Of the 23,997 individuals interviewed in 1998, 17,357 (72 percent) were successfully re-interviewed in 2006, forming a panel that can be used for longitudinal analysis. The 2006 sample contains an additional 19,743 “new” individuals. Of these 2,663 individuals joined the original 1998 households, 4,880 joined the split households, and 12,200 were part of the refresher sample of households.

 
Main Results and Policy Recommendations:

Although the constitution and the Egyptian labour law stress on gender equality, however, it seems important to have an equal pay act, ensuring equal pay for equal work, in a broader sense, one which prohibits discrimination at the entry points into the labor market, in job titles, in job ranks and in pay scales, is yet to be passed.

The analysis indicates that there is a significant change in various views and social values regarding the right of women to participate, however, there is still a need to adopt labor market policies that support women's participation. These policies include: flexible working time (for example part-time jobs), designing macro and micro economic policies to better address women’s employment problems especially in the private sector, and providing accessible and affordable daycare centers and other services which are important.

Supporting an effective women’s entrepreneurship policy could be an effective way to increase female labor force participation and to face female unemployment.

Regarding the impact of education on women economic empowerment, it is evident that education is found to have a powerful influence on women's labor market pathways in Egypt. However, it is also found that raising female education level is not enough to boost young women's economic empowerment. To strengthen education as a path to enhance women's economic participation and opportunity in Egypt, there is an urgent need to focus on improving education quality, and targeting girls from secondary and technical education as they are more vulnerable to unemployment and engagement in the informal sector.

Information and Communication technology sector appears to be a promising field for improving women engagement in labor market and the community in general, however more efforts should be devoted to increase their engagement. To be able to reap from the benefits of ICT, women must be equipped with skills to prepare them for a range of roles not only as ICT users, but also as creators and designers.

Dissemination

On November, 23rd 2009; The National Council for Women (NCW) hosted the Seminar on “The Economic Participation of Women: Opportunities and Challenges”.
The seminar witnessed the presentations by the four researchers presenting the main results of the papers and the policy briefs. The seminar concluded by a general session by Heba Nassar the Principal Investigator, who presented the main conclusions that could be drawn from the four papers and briefs, the main policy actions that could be stressed on as well as the main research questions that can be tackled in the future to support the policy maker in addressing the economic participation of women. The Seminar witnessed wide participation and rich discussions.
 
On February, 10th 2010; The Economic Committee of the National Council for Women held a follow-up Seminar on "Women Competitiveness in the labor market". The main aim of the seminar was to continue discussions on the four main topics introduced in the SRC/CIDA gender and work research program and framing the needed policy recommendations that could be directed to the policy makers to achieve wider women economic participation and empowerment. The workshop included four presentations.
 

Dr. Safwat El Nahas	Head of the central agency for organization and administration,	"Weak women participation in the formal labour market and wage discrimination"
Dr. Hania Sholkamy	Research Associate Professor, The Social Research Centre, American University in Cairo	"Women Economic Empowerment: Challenges and Opportunities"
Dr. Yomna El Hamaky	Head of economics Department, Faculty of Commerce, Ain Shams University	"Education as a tool to enhance economic empowerment of women in Egypt"
Dr. Nagwa El Shenawy	Head of Information Centre, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT)	"Women in the Communication and Information Technology sector"

Download Papers and Policy Brief:

Abdullah Shehatta & Hala Sakr, “Women Empowerment: Obstacles and Challenges: Egyptian Case”
 
Somaya Abdel Mowla, “Education &Economic Empowerment of Women in Egypt”
 
Amirah El-Haddad "Labor Market Gender Discrimination under Structural Adjustment: The Case of Egypt"
 
Dina Mandour, “Impact of ICT on Gender in Egypt : Digital Gender Divide in Egypt”