Beyond Job Creation: Closing Egypt’s Gender Gap in Work
FromMay 05, 2026 To May 05, 2026
Hybrid Event
As part of the Egypt Development Dialogue, a strategic knowledge partnership between the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and the World Bank, this initiative brings together students, scholars, policymakers, and private sector leaders, creating a dynamic platform for students and emerging researchers to engage with experts on complex development challenges through rigorous, evidence-based policy dialogue.
Organized in partnership with The American University in Cairo’s Mohamed Shafik Gabr Department of Economics, Onsi Sawiris School of Business, this event examines one of Egypt’s most pressing development priorities: closing the gender gap in economic participation.
Egypt’s development agenda places job creation, entrepreneurship, private sector growth, digital transformation, and structural reform at the heart of economic progress. Yet despite sustained investment in employment and SME support, women’s labor force participation remains among the lowest globally.
For many women, barriers extend far beyond unemployment. Limited access to formal work, unpaid care responsibilities, mobility constraints, and restricted entrepreneurial opportunities continue to impede meaningful participation in the economy.
This raises a critical question: Are current reforms successfully integrating women into the labor market, or does meaningful inclusion require deeper structural transformation?
The discussion explores whether persistent barriers are primarily economic and institutional, such as childcare, transport, and skills mismatch, or whether social norms and expectations around women’s roles remain equally decisive.
Core Question
Can Egypt close its gender gap in work through current economic reforms, or are further changes needed in the way education, care systems, private sector incentives, and social norms shape women’s opportunities?
Student essays and the debate examines three key dimensions:
- Are current policies underperforming due to weak implementation or flawed design?
- Can employment policies alone close the gender gap, or is broader reform essential?
- Can government action suffice, or must the private sector also transform how it hires, pays, and promotes women?
- Through evidence-based debate and expert engagement, the initiative aims to deepen policy understanding, strengthen analytical thinking, and foster informed dialogue on inclusive and sustainable development.
Watch the debate featuring a keynote presentation by Dr. Stephane Guimbert, Division Director for Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti at the World Bank, followed by presentations from finalist student teams: Adam El Beblawy and Zeina Allam, presenting Egypt’s Gender Gap in the Labor Force, and Alaa Sliti and Hassan Amer, presenting The Reform that Forgot Women. Their essays frame the central arguments and illuminate the key policy trade-offs shaping the discussion.
The event also features live participant polling on key issues, culminating in expert reflections by Dr. Nagla Rizk, Professor of Economics and Founding Director of the Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) at the American University in Cairo.
Related Reading
Beyond Job Creation: How Can Egypt’s Gender Gap in Work Be Closed?
Agenda
Date
05/05/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 11:00 am To 1:00 pm
Speakers
Authors
Dina Abdel Fattah
Assistant Professor and Chair, Mohamed Shafik Gabr...
Research Fellows
Samer Atallah
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research,...
Speakers
Stephane Guimbert
Division Director for Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti,...
Research Fellows
Raed Safadi
Managing Director, Economic Research Forum
Speakers
Nagla Rizk
Professor of Economics and Founding Director of...