The chapter examines how foreign direct investment (FDI) and the activities of foreign affiliates of multinational enterprises (MNEs) affect gender equality and women's economic empowerment in the Egyptian labour market both directly and indirectly. It looks at the geographical and sectoral distribution of investment inflows, the quality of the resulting job opportunities and differences in female employment patterns in foreign and domestic enterprises. It also assesses the institutional and policy framework that influences the impact of FDI on gender outcomes and identifies policy reforms that would help to maximise its positive impact.
Women’s Economic Empowerment in Egypt
Abstract
Foreign direct investment (FDI) can be a key driver of sustainable development in Egypt and an important source of funding to help the country meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. However, these benefits are not automatic; governments need a strong set of policies and sound institutional arrangements to maximise the contribution of FDI to meeting these goals.
FDI is an important complement to domestic investment in Egypt, but investment inflows, while growing, have been volatile and not grown as consistently as the average for OECD and Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. The stock of FDI reached an all-time high of 56% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, and stood at around 48% of GDP in 2023.
FDI has tended to be concentrated in sectors with low participation of women; in 2022-23, oil extraction, information technology and communications (ICT), and real estate services together accounted for 36% of FDI inflows, but only 2% of all women employees, while manufacturing attracted 27% of investment inflows but employed only 6% of the women working in Egypt.
Foreign affiliates of multinational enterprises (MNEs) employ higher shares of women than domestic ones with Egypt recording one of the highest relative performance gaps in the MENA region, but are less likely than domestic firms to employ female top managers, or have female owners. The jobs MNEs offer are also slightly better paid, and more likely to be for skilled employees on permanent contracts.
Egypt’s institutional and policy framework affecting the impact of FDI on equality is complex, with many entities and co-ordination mechanisms, not all of which are entirely transparent.
Egypt’s investment regime is relatively open, with fewer restrictions than peer economies such as Jordan, Libya and Algeria but some restrictions persist in sectors with a higher participation of women, such as real estate, distribution, business services and financial services.
To maximise the impact of FDI on women’s economic empowerment, policymakers should focus on increasing investment inflows into women-intensive sectors, while also reducing the barriers limiting women’s participation in today’s FDI-intensive sectors, including through training and capacity development. A coherent set of investment and gender-related policies and well co-ordinated institutions will help encourage companies benefitting from investment to adopt inclusive policies and targets.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an important complement to domestic investment in Egypt. Its relevance to the Egyptian economy has increased over the past three decades, albeit less consistently than in OECD and other Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, due to various regulatory and non-regulatory barriers to foreign investors (UNCTAD, 2025[1]). Nonetheless, FDI has been an important driver of sustainable development for Egypt, contributing to higher domestic productivity and energy efficiency.
The impact of FDI on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in Egypt has been mixed. FDI, including greenfield FDI (i.e. new establishments of foreign companies), is prevalent in sectors with low participation of women and dominated by men. FDI is also unevenly geographically distributed and predominately concentrated in urban areas which is likely to exacerbate existing gender inequalities. Although foreign multinational enterprises (MNSs) employ more women than their domestic counterparts, and tend to offer better quality jobs, for women to fully benefit from these opportunities, Egypt will need to both attract more FDI into women-intensive sectors – and enable more women to work in FDI-intensive sectors. This will require a strong policy framework and co-ordination across the entities charged with investment policy and with gender equality issues.
This chapter focuses on the impact of FDI on women’s labour market outcomes. Section 9.2 assesses trends in the inflow of FDI into Egypt, including its sectoral and geographical distribution and the resulting impact on women. It also examines the differences between foreign affiliates of MNEs in Egypt and domestic enterprises in terms of women's employment, leadership and firm ownership, as well as other aspects driving the quality of the jobs created. Section 9.3 considers the institutional and policy framework for investment in Egypt, the relevant actors and their co-ordination mechanisms, and how related policy areas influence women’s labour market outcomes. Finally, Section 9.4 offers policy recommendations based on the experience and best practices of other countries including measures to attract FDI into sectors such as health, education, and services where women are more likely to be employed, encouraging investing companies to adopt inclusive policies, and improving women’s ability to take advantage of the employment opportunities offered by FDI through safe housing and transport, and training and skills development.
Foreign direct investment is a key driver of sustainable development in Egypt
FDI is an important driver of the development of the Egyptian economy, especially in light of the weaker performance of domestic savings and investment in recent decades (OECD, 2020[2]). Egypt's strategic location, large domestic market and young workforce give it a strong potential for attracting foreign investment. FDI performance has shown overall growth, albeit with fluctuations, including a downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stock of FDI relative to gross domestic product (GDP), has grown over time, albeit less consistently than the average for OECD and MENA countries (Figure 1.1, Panel A). It reached an all-time high of 56% of GDP in 2017 before falling back sharply, and then rose again to around 48% in 2023 (UNCTAD, 2025[1]).
As well as overall stocks, FDI flows over the last three decades have also been very volatile (Figure 1.1, Panel B). Inflows increased significantly between 2000 and 2007, driven by economic reforms, Egypt’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 1995 and the further liberalisation of cross-border investments, among other factors. This period also coincided with impressive economic growth rates in Egypt. The global financial crisis of 2008-09 hit FDI in Egypt harder and longer than in other neighbouring countries due to various structural weaknesses of the economy, including excessive dependence on the public sector, limited product market competition and weak export diversification (OECD, 2020[2]). Since 2016, a new wave of FDI flows has entered the Egyptian economy, partly explained by macroeconomic stabilisation and market reforms. However, inflows declined sharply again in 2019 due to the global pandemic and the resulting disruptive effect on value chains and multinational corporations' operations. They then recovered relatively quickly to surpass pre-crisis levels, due partly to rising cross-border merger and acquisition activity, and increased targeted efforts to promote FDI, which culminated in the doubling of announced greenfield projects in 2022 compared to the year before (OECD, 2024[3]; UNCTAD, 2023[4]).
FDI has been an important complement to domestic investment and can contribute to sustainable development outcomes. For instance, the OECD’s FDI Qualities Initiative, helps governments review and improve the positive impact of FDI on a range of sustainable outcomes (Box 1.1). The OECD Investment Policy Review of Egypt (2020[2]) found that its importance has grown, particularly as the public contribution to investment began to decline in the 1980s, but that it has been hindered by various barriers, notably the strong state presence in some sectors and regulatory and other obstacles, limiting its potential benefits. The Review shows how foreign companies contribute significantly to a number of sustainable development outcomes in Egypt, such as innovation and energy efficiency, but its impact on these measures was greater in sectors with fewer distortions. For example, foreign firms are on average more productive than domestic firms, and sectors with a smaller presence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – which tend to be prevalent in sectors such as utilities, infrastructure and finance – have seen a foreign productivity premium. SOEs have historically enjoyed a better regulatory environment and received special tax exemptions, creating an uneven playing field for other companies and often causing private investors to shy away. Positively, a new law (159/2023) has been passed to eliminate preferential treatment of SOEs in the form of tax exemptions (OECD, 2024[3]).
Source: OECD elaboration based on UNCTAD (2025[1]), UNCTAD Data Hub: Foreign direct investment: Inward and outward flows and stock, annual, https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/Index.html.
Box 9.1. OECD FDI Qualities Initiative and the Sustainable Development Goals
FDI is a key source of funding to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 5 on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. However, the benefits of FDI do not always materialise, and the impact of investment can vary across countries and sustainability areas. Policies and institutional arrangements play a critical role in maximising the positive impact of FDI. The OECD FDI Qualities Initiative shows how governments can improve the contribution of FDI to achieving the SDGs. It provides governments with the tools and data to develop and implement evidence-based policies that encourage investments leading to sustainable development. It comprises three main pillars:
FDI Qualities Indicators help governments assess the impact of investment across four areas of the SDGs: (i) decarbonisation; (ii) job quality and skills; (iii) gender equality; and (iv) productivity and innovation.
FDI Qualities Policy Toolkit helps governments improve the impact of investment on sustainable development across the four areas. The Toolkit complements the OECD Policy Framework for Investment by providing governments with detailed, tailored policy guidance and best practice for attracting and retaining sustainable investment. The Toolkit also includes guidance on strengthening the role of development co‑operation in mobilising FDI and enhancing its positive impact in developing countries.
OECD Council Recommendation on FDI Qualities complements the Policy Toolkit by incorporating a concise set of key policy principles from the Policy Toolkit into a legal instrument. Adopted at the 2022 OECD Ministerial Conference Meeting, it is the first government-backed standard on how to improve the positive contribution of international investment to the SDGs.
At the time of writing this chapter, Egypt is undertaking an OECD FDI Qualities Review focusing on productivity, innovation, job quality and skills. Both this chapter and the Qualities Review rely on the pillars and tools developed under the FDI Qualities Initiative, thus providing a complementary assessment of the contribution of FDI to sustainable development in Egypt.
Source: OECD (2022[5]), FDI Qualities Policy Toolkit, https://doi.org/10.1787/7ba74100-en.; OECD (2019[6]), FDI Qualities Indicators: Measuring the Sustainable Development Impacts of investment, www.oecd.org/investment/investment-policy/FDI-Qualities-Indicators-Measuring-Sustainable-Development-Impacts.pdf; OECD (2022[7]), FDI Qualities Indicators 2022, www.oecd.org/investment/investment-policy/OECD-FDI-Qualities-Indicators-2022-update.pdf.
FDI is more prevalent in sectors with low participation of women
FDI can have significantly different effects on men and women’s labour market outcomes in a country. As Box 1.2 outlines in more detail, these effects occur through several channels, the most important of which are the direct employment activities and practices of affiliates of foreign MNEs. Foreign MNEs create job opportunities in the local labour market, but which sectors these jobs are created in determine how likely it is that women will take advantage of them – if foreign companies are concentrated in sectors with low female participation, women are less likely to benefit from the resulting job opportunities. The quality of these job opportunities (whether they are stable or well paid, whether they allow career progression, etc.) is also important in determining the impact of FDI on equality and women's economic empowerment.
Direct investment by foreign MNEs generates multiple gender-specific effects in the labour markets of host countries. FDI influences the relative demand and prices of factors of production, including labour. Since men and women have different preferences and skill sets due to policy and non-policy factors (taxation, social and cultural norms, etc.), and different industries employ different intensities of male and female labour, FDI can change the relative demand for male and female employees and affects the employment and wages of women and men differently. FDI can also influence other dimensions of gender equality and women's empowerment in the labour market (the green box in Figure 1.2). These include women's non-wage working conditions (e.g. job security and occupational health) and prospects for skills development and career advancement (e.g. training and promotion) The operations of affiliates of foreign MNEs can also have significant implications for local women entrepreneurs.
Source: OECD elaboration.
FDI can influence these outcomes directly, through the operations of foreign MNEs, or indirectly through supply chain linkages and other market interactions with domestic firms. The literature identifies four main transmission channels of FDI impacts on gender outcomes (the yellow box in Figure 9.2). These are:
MNE direct activities. FDI affects women in host countries mainly through the direct employment activities and practices of foreign MNEs (recruitment, remuneration, training, promotion, etc.).
Value chain relationships. FDI can create jobs for local women in domestic companies through business opportunities generated with local suppliers (i.e. vertical linkages) or through global value chains (e.g. through subcontracting or outsourcing). These relationships can also generate new business prospects for local women entrepreneurs.
Competition and imitation effects. Foreign MNEs compete with local firms both in product markets (crowding-out) and in labour markets for local talent. Especially in female-dominated sectors, competitive pressures from foreign MNEs can lead to job losses for women if domestic firms downsize or close down. As women-owned firms are generally smaller and less productive than those owned by men, they are also more likely to be negatively affected by foreign competition. Imitation effects occur when domestic firms imitate the business practices of the MNE, including practices in relation to gender. Through these imitation processes, foreign MNEs can influence gender-related practices in domestic firms or women-owned businesses.
Labour mobility. This involves movements of women workers from foreign MNEs to domestic enterprises or the start-up of enterprises by women previously employed by foreign MNEs. Women could also use the knowledge gained at the foreign MNE to set up their own company.
The direction and magnitude of gender-specific FDI impacts depend on several factors – as well as the sector in which the investment takes place, the types of FDI (e.g. efficiency-seeking FDI versus market-seeking FDI), and the policy and non-policy framework conditions of the host country (the blue box in Figure 9.2) also have an impact. Non-policy framework conditions refer to the level of socio-economic development of the host country, including prevailing gender norms and values. Policy framework conditions include a broad set of policies at the intersection of equality between men and women and investment promotion.
Source: OECD (2022[5]), FDI Qualities Policy Toolkit, https://doi.org/10.1787/7ba74100-en.
Foreign investors in Egypt predominantly favour sectors employing few women. FDI in Egypt has been highly concentrated in oil extraction over the years, accounting for 40% of total inflows during 2020-21 (Figure 1.3). Since 2021, increased shares of net FDI inflows have been directed towards the manufacturing and services sectors, which could generate significant job opportunities for women in the future. During 2022-23, 30% of FDI inflows went to other services and 27% to manufacturing, with oil extraction falling to 24%, followed by information technology and communications (ITC) (7%), and real estate services (5%) (Figure 1.3). Some of these sectors employ very few women as a share of total female employment in Egypt. In particular, in 2023, less than 2% of women employees in Egypt were working in the oil extraction, ICT services and real estate sectors combined (Figure 1.3). A slightly larger share of women work in agriculture (16% of female employment), and the manufacturing sector (around 6%), including garments, textiles, leather, food processing and electrical equipment (ILO, 2025[8]).
Women face legal and other barriers to working in some of the sectors attracting the most FDI. The law still limits women from working in certain sectors and occupations or night shifts. In 2021, the Ministry of Labour (formerly the Ministry of Manpower) lifted some restrictions on women’s employability (see Chapter 3 for details). Night work is now permitted with certain protections, albeit not for the same hours as men, but other legal barriers remain, limiting women’s employment in mining and construction, or in jobs deemed hazardous or morally inappropriate. Egypt’s new Labor Code No. 14 of 2025 does not lift these restrictions on women’s employment. Non-legal barriers can also be an obstacle to women's participation in certain sectors and occupations. For example, cultural and social norms and values may influence the belief that some jobs are not suitable for women. In addition, the lack of safe transport and affordable accommodation may make it harder for women in rural areas to take advantage of jobs in urban centres than men. Positively, government initiatives to enhance women’s skills are likely to boost their representation in certain sectors, including in information and communications technology (ICT) and other STEM fields (see Chapter 7).
In contrast, little or no FDI is directed to sectors where women tend to be highly concentrated. Education services and healthcare (as well as public administration) together account for more than one-third of female employment (ILO, 2025[8]) but receive little FDI. This is not surprising, since in most countries these sectors are reserved for domestic firms. Egypt, however, has recently lifted restrictions on foreign investment in these sectors and included them among its target sectors for investment promotion, which suggests that they could attract more FDI in the coming years.
Sectoral distribution of FDI flows and female employment (% of total), Egypt, 2023
Note: Other services include tourism, finance, education services, healthcare, public administration
Source: OECD elaboration based on Central Bank of Egypt (2023[9]), External Position of the Egyptian Economy 2022/2023, https://www.cbe.org.eg/en/economic-research/economic-reports/external-position-of-egyption-economy; and ILO (2025[8]), Employees by sex and economic activity - ISIC level 2 (thousands) (ILOSTAT data explorer), https://rshiny.ilo.org/dataexplorer19/?lang=en&segment=indicator&id=EES_TEES_SEX_EC2_NB_A&channel=ilostat.
Greenfield FDI – new establishments of foreign companies – is also largely concentrated in male-dominated sectors. As Figure 1.4 shows, between 2003 and 2024, almost half of the greenfield investments of this kind were in the mining and energy sector, particularly oil extraction (49%); construction (20%); and low-tech manufacturing (chemicals, food and beverages, other non-metallic minerals, rubber and plastics, motor vehicles, textiles and garments) (12%). Women represent around 5% or less of the workforce in these sectors except for textiles and garments, where they account for 44% of the workforce. Less than 15% of greenfield FDI went to service sectors, in particular transport and warehousing, communications and IT services, tourism, finance, and real estate. Women make up less than 2% of the total workforce in professional and business services, but are better represented in other service sectors, ranging from 6% of the workforce in tourism and 8% in transport and warehousing to 21% in finance and real estate and a notably high 76% in health care (ILO, 2025[8]).
Greenfield FDI also created more jobs in male-dominated sectors. Between 2003 and 2024, around 240 000 jobs were created in manufacturing, accounting for 50% of all jobs created by greenfield FDI in this period. Only a small share of these jobs were created in sectors with a good representation of women, however – only 8% of jobs were generated in textiles and garments, for example (Figure 1.4). About 13% of the jobs were generated in construction and 15% in the mining and energy sector. The remaining jobs were created in services, especially in ICT services (7%) and finance and real estate (4%), which have relatively higher shares of female workers (fDi Markets, 2025[10]).
These figures suggest that Egyptian women are less likely than men to benefit from the opportunities brought by foreign investors. Removing legal and non-legal barriers on women's participation in the labour force, particularly in sectors where FDI is currently concentrated or where Egypt wishes to attract more investment, can help ensure that women can benefit as much from jobs created by foreign MNEs as men. Conversely, encouraging investment opportunities in sectors where many women already work, including education and healthcare, could have an immediate positive impact on women’s employment (although this brings risks as well as opportunities as discussed in Section 9.3). However, the quality of job opportunities created by foreign investors is as important for improving gender equality and women’s economic empowerment as the total numbers (see below).
Greenfield FDI accumulated between 2003 and 2024 and female employment
Note: Data on female employment refer to 2023.
Source: OECD elaboration based on fDi Markets (2025[10]), Database of crossborder greenfield investments, www.fdimarkets.com/; and ILO (2025[8]), Employees by sex and economic activity - ISIC level 2 (thousands) (ILOSTAT data explorer), https://rshiny.ilo.org/dataexplorer19/?lang=en&segment=indicator&id=EES_TEES_SEX_EC2_NB_A&channel=ilostathttps://ilostat.ilo.org/data/
The uneven geographical distribution of FDI exacerbates existing disparities between men and women
FDI in Egypt is unevenly distributed across its governorates. Just 7 of Egypt’s 27 governorates – Suez, Cairo, Matruh, Port Said, Alexandria, Red Sea and Giza – received 95% of all greenfield FDI between 2003 and 2023 and benefitted from around 92% of jobs created by these projects (Figure 1.5). As in other countries, this geographical concentration is largely the result of disparities in the level of economic activity (OECD, 2020[2]). Foreign investors also tend to locate their operations in urban areas, which offer better infrastructure and services and where suppliers are located. They may also gravitate to special zones – free zones (FZs), investment zones, special economic zones (SEZs) and qualifying industrial zones (QIZs) – which provide tax or administrative incentives, better infrastructure and streamlined customs procedures (see Section 9.3). In Egypt, such zones began to proliferate in the mid-1970s as a means of decongesting urban centres, particularly Cairo. Many zones, in particular investment zones and QIZs, are located in the most advanced regions (Cairo, Alexandria and the Suez Canal). More recently, industrial zones have also been created with the intention of encouraging investment in less developed governorates (OECD, 2020[2]).
The uneven distribution of FDI is likely to exacerbate existing social inequalities, particularly between men and women. According to Egypt’s Population Census (CAPMAS, 2017[11]) about 58% of the Egyptian population live in rural areas. People living in rural areas, particularly women, tend to have worse health, educational and labour market outcomes than people in urban areas (Zeitoun et al., 2023[12]). Women in rural areas live within more patriarchal familial and societal structures and tend to marry much younger (UN Women, 2018[13]). Consultation with representatives of the Egyptian Government and business associations conducted by the OECD for this review found that women are less likely than men to move from rural areas to urban centres, where better job opportunities are available. The lack of safe transport and difficulty in finding affordable accommodation appear to be important reasons behind this. Providing safe and affordable transport and accommodation services could therefore help women take advantage of opportunities available in Egypt's main economic centres, where foreign MNEs tend to locate. Nevertheless, the government has undertaken recent efforts to improve infrastructure and access to services in rural areas through initiatives such as Haya Karima (see Chapter 5). Another programme, Tahweesha, seeks to improve women’s access to finance in rural areas while providing technical support and capacity building opportunities (see Chapter 8). These initiatives represent positive steps towards expanding economic opportunities for rural women.
Greenfield FDI accumulated between 2003 and 2023
Source: OECD elaboration based on fDi Markets (2025[10]), Database of crossborder greenfield investments, www.fdimarkets.com/.
Foreign firms employ higher shares of women, but are less likely to have women among their top managers and owners than domestic firms
Foreign firms do not always perform better than domestic ones in their labour practices. Evidence from several countries show that foreign firms (i.e. foreign affiliates of MNEs) tend to be more productive than domestic firms (OECD, 2022[7]; OECD, 2019[6]). This is because they can rely on the better technologies and assets of the parent company. International evidence also shows that foreign firms do not necessarily outperform domestic firms with regard to gender practices or wider labour practices, with several other factors playing a role. For example, the MNE’s corporate culture seems to be an important factor and this, in turn, is shaped by the values and culture of the MNE’s country of origin. Thus, companies from countries with greater equality between men and women tend to be more gender-inclusive and adopt more gender-friendly practices than companies from countries with worse equality outcomes (Kodama, Javorcik and Abe, 2018[14]; Tang and Zhang, 2021[15]). Other factors are also important, including the size of the company, the sector in which the investment takes place, and the institutional, policy and cultural framework of the host country (OECD, 2022[5]).
Foreign firms in Egypt tend to employ a higher proportion of women than domestic ones. The World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) of Egypt, conducted in 2020, provides a representative sample of companies operating in the country that year, allowing the employment practices of foreign and domestic firms to be compared. According to these data, foreign firms in Egypt on average employ a higher proportion of women than domestic firms (Figure 1.6, Panel A). This is also true for several MENA countries covered by the WBES, notably Tunisia and Jordan, and several other OECD and non-OECD economies, such as Brazil, Indonesia and Colombia. Results, however, vary widely across sectors. In Egypt and Jordan, for example, foreign firms employ significantly higher shares of women than domestic firms in the apparel and food sectors, but lower shares than domestic firms in the construction sector.
Relative performance gap between foreign and domestic firms (>0 foreign firms perform better than domestic firms)
Note: The indicator in Panel A is calculated as the relative difference between the share of female workers in foreign firms and domestic firms, over the share of female workers in domestic firms. The indicator in Panel B is calculated as the relative difference between the share of foreign and domestic firms with female top managers, relative to the share of domestic firms with female top managers. Panel C uses the same calculation, but for female participation in ownership. Indicators are shown with their respective 95% confidence interval. When 0 is included in the confidence interval the indicator is not statistically significant. For details about the methodology see (OECD, 2019[6]).
Source: OECD elaboration based on World Bank (2025[16]), Economies - Formal Sector Enterprise Surveys: Egypt Arab Republicwww.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data/exploreeconomies.
In contrast, the share of foreign firms with women top managers is lower than that of domestic firms (Figure 9.6, Panel B). Similar findings are observed for most of the comparison countries, including Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. However, there are important sectoral differences. For example, in garments and several other manufacturing sectors (such as electronics and chemicals) the shares of foreign and domestic firms with female top managers are very similar. In addition, consultations conducted with Egyptian government representatives for this review found that some foreign companies are particularly active in promoting the professional development of their female staff and that they engage in initiatives to promote the skill development of Egyptian women (Box 1.3).
The share of foreign firms with women among their owners is also lower than that of domestic firms (Figure 9.6, Panel B). This indicator is not statistically significant, however (as shown by its confidence interval which includes zero). The same results hold for most of the comparison countries, including MENA peers. In many sectors, no foreign firms have any female owners. This is not surprising, as evidence shows that female-owned firms participate less in FDI and trade than their male counterparts, due to the higher barriers and costs they face when trying to offshore and export (Korinek, Moïsé and Tange, 2021[17]). Women's participation in ownership also tends to be correlated with firm size (women-owned firms tend to be smaller), indicating that factors other than domestic/foreign ownership play a role (OECD, 2017[18]).
L’Oréal-UNESCO’s For Women in Science Egypt Young talents programme fellowships
Since 2018, L'Oréal has been working with UNESCO For Women in Science to promote the participation of young Egyptian women in the life and physical sciences. The programme offers an award to three talented young Egyptian women researchers for the quality of their research work and encourages them to pursue careers in STEM fields. Specifically, the programme provides two postdoctoral fellowships and one doctoral fellowship to be carried out in a research laboratory, institute or university in Egypt (UNESCO - L'Oréal, 2023[19]).
Marriott International’s Female Leadership Initiative
In 2022, the Marriott International hotel group launched the Female Leadership Initiative in Egypt, a personal development programme for high-potential female professionals. Participants benefit from the guidance of a dedicated mentor to create their individual development plans, particularly through career progression to leadership and management positions within the company. The initiative has been active globally for over 20 years, with ongoing networking opportunities, eCornell leadership and career development courses and access to roundtable discussions (Hotelier, 2022[20]).
Lafarge Egypt-GIZ’s Programme for Employment of Young Women through Applied Gender Diversity Management (GDM)
Lafarge Egypt, a subsidiary of the Swiss Holcim Group, a multinational company in the cement industry, collaborated the German Agency for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ), to implement the Programme for Employment of Young Women through Applied Gender Diversity Management in the MENA region. The programme provides two-week summer internships to eight female high school students, allowing them to gain first-hand experience in human resources, communications, marketing, IT and business development within the company, highlighting future career opportunities in a male-dominated industry. Lafarge Egypt also invested in and led the TE'DARY programme, which provided workshops on gender equality, economic empowerment and life skills development to 80 women in the Tora region near Cairo (Lafarge Egypt, 2021[21]).
Foreign firms offer better job opportunities than domestic firms
Foreign firms pay better wages than domestic firms. The WBES of Egypt (World Bank, 2025[16]) also provides information on the quality of job opportunities created by firms, particularly with respect to wages, skills and type of contract (i.e. permanent or temporary). Although this information is not available by gender, it still allows differences in employment practices between domestic and foreign firms to be examined. The results show that in Egypt, as in most of comparison countries, foreign firms pay on average higher wages than domestic firms (Figure 1.7, Panel A). This foreign wage premium is found in most sectors, except the garments sector (which employs a significant share of women), fabricated metals and trade services. The data also show that average wages in the garment sector are lower than in the other sectors, for both domestic and foreign firms, which seems to be explained by the relatively higher presence of low-skilled workers, including many women, and their lower bargaining power (OECD, 2019[6]).
Foreign firms tend to employ more skilled workers and offer more permanent contracts. On average, they have higher shares of skilled workers than domestic firms, although this difference is not statistically significant (Figure 1.7, Panel B). The indicator is also not statistically significant for most of the comparison countries. Foreign firms in Egypt also have on average a higher share of workers on permanent contracts than domestic firms, suggesting that they offer more stable employment opportunities (Figure 1.7, Panel C). Among the comparison countries, only Morocco shows similar results; in other peer countries either foreign firms have lower shares of workers with permanent contracts or the differences between foreign and domestic firms are not statistically significant.
Relative performance gap between foreign and domestic firms (>0 foreign firms perform better than domestic firms)
Note: The indicator in Panel A is calculated as the relative difference between the average wage of foreign and domestic firms, relative to the average wage of domestic firms. The indicator in Panel B is calculated as the relative difference between the share of skilled workers in foreign and domestic firms, relative to the share of skilled workers in domestic firms. Panel C uses the same calculation for the share of workers with a permanent contract. Indicators are shown with their respective 95% confidence interval. When 0 is included in the confidence interval the indicator is not statistically significant. For details about the methodology see (OECD, 2019[6]).
Source: OECD elaboration based on World Bank (2025[16]), Economies - Formal Sector Enterprise Surveys: Egypt Arab Republic, www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data/exploreeconomies.
Overall, the results suggest that foreign companies offer better job opportunities than domestic companies but not whether all workers benefit. Without disaggregation by gender they do not say whether these good job opportunities are offered to men and women equally. Most of the available information on the gender-related employment practices of foreign companies in Egypt is anecdotal. Discussions with representatives of the Egyptian Government for this review and desk research identified several examples of gender-inclusive human resource (HR) practices by foreign companies, but no generalisable conclusions can be drawn from these (Box 1.4).
Some studies have focused on the working conditions of women in the free zones in Egypt. Many foreign companies are located in these zones and they tend to employ many women. A study conducted by the World Bank in (2011[22]) in two Egyptian FZs, Port Said Free Zone and Nasr City Free Zone, compares the working conditions of women inside and outside the FZs. The case studies are based on the results of a combination of interviews with the organisations concerned, site visits to companies and desk research. They reveal that most companies in these zones operate in the textile and garment sector or in other light manufacturing industries (electronics, food processing). According to the study, 50% or more of the workforce in these two zones are women, a much higher percentage than the workforce outside the FZs. The impact on women's working conditions is mixed. In the Port Said Free Zone, men and women earn higher wages than those offered outside for similar jobs. However, the case studies also point out that lack of childcare and other facilities such as dormitories are important obstacles to women’s participation in these FZs.
Ensuring that companies, domestic and foreign, comply with national gender laws can help eliminate mechanisms and practices that generate or aggravate gender inequalities in the workplace. Furthermore, linking existing investment incentive programmes to gender objectives (the role of investment incentives and their impact on gender outcomes are discussed later in the chapter) can also foster good gender practices and support gender equality and women's economic empowerment in the workplace.
Egypt Vodafone – data collection, recruitment, parental leave, professional development and code of conduct
Egypt Vodafone received the Egyptian Gender Equity Seal award from the World Bank and the National Women's Council in 2021, for its demonstrated actions in supporting women in recruitment, family-work balance, career development and sexual harassment policies. Since 2013, Egypt Vodafone has been working to improve the balance of men and women in its company, which led to the adoption of several gender-inclusive HR practices. The company collects disaggregated data on recruitment, retention and career progression, enabling business HR partners to conduct gender audits and identify potential areas of concern that require action. The company takes a proactive approach in its recruitment practices, including the use of quotas for women in candidate shortlists. It also offers subsidies for crèches and nursery schools and up to two years of parental leave to mothers. Female staff benefit from tailored training programmes and a dedicated Women Network, which supports them not only in career advancement, but also in work-life balance and remuneration. In addition, the corporate code of conduct includes a section on the prevention of harassment and bullying (NCW, 2021[23]).
Yeşim – Gender Equality Committee, corporate kindergarten and child allowances
Yeşim Apparel and Textiles, a Turkish manufacturer, operates three factories in Egypt, where women make up 20-25% of the workforce. Each factory has a Gender Equality Committee, comprised of representatives from departments and factory trade union, for oversight on efforts related to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Through a factory-level approach, each Committee can deploy strategies based on their own work environment, while reporting to the company-level Supreme Gender Equality Board, to enhance dialogue on gender-related efforts across the company. Yeşim also supports working mothers in its Egyptian operations. In Ismailia, the company has built an onsite crèche, a practice which it has brought from its operations in Türkiye, while in Alexandria and Cairo, Yeşim provides working parents with an allowance for childcare needs (ICRW Advisors, 2020[24]).
The institutional set up for investment and gender issues involves multiple actors
The impact of FDI on outcomes for both men and women is strongly influenced by the institutional and policy framework of the host country. This involves various governmental and non-governmental entities (ministries and their executive agencies, autonomous bodies, trade unions, business associations, non-profit organisations, etc.) in areas such as investment, gender affairs, the labour market, entrepreneurship, education and vocational training, trade, and industry. Figure 1.8 gives an outline of the governance arrangements in Egypt.
In Egypt, investment policy is the main responsibility of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI). Following a government reshuffle in 2024, GAFI now reports to the newly reconstituted Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment, which was formed through the merger of the former Ministry of Investment and the Ministry of Foreign Trade. GAFI’s mandates include the promotion of inward and outward FDI, as well as domestic investment. It also operates as a one-stop shop for investors; oversees the screening and prior approval of investment projects; negotiates international trade and investment agreements; administers tax and other investment incentives; and manages FZs, investment zones and technology zones.1
Source: OECD elaboration.
Investment policy is also the responsibility of other parts of the Egyptian Government. Chief among these are the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) – one of the main executive arms of the Ministry of Industry – and the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ). IDA is responsible for the management of industrial zones and has exclusive authority over industrial land. It also provides licences for any industrial project in the country with the exception of FZs, investment zones and SEZs, which remain under the responsibility of GAFI. SCEZ is in charge of promoting and facilitating investments in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and manages facilities and services, as well as financial and non-financial incentives for companies wanting to establish their operations in the SCZone.
The main body responsible for women's issues in Egypt is the National Council for Women (NCW), which reports directly to the President. The NCW plays an important role in gender mainstreaming and the formulation of policies and plans for the political, social and economic empowerment of women. The NCW oversees the use of tools such as gender impact analyses of various bills and legislation across government, as well as gender-responsive planning and budgeting in ministries. The NCW has 27 branches operating in all governorates of Egypt, allowing women varying access to its programmes and initiatives nationwide. The NCW also provides comments on draft laws and legal decisions and recommends new laws to improve women’s conditions.
In addition to these entities, many other actors and their policies influence the impact of FDI on women. These include:
The Ministry of Labour, which is the main authority for labour policies, including vocational education and training policies.
The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and International Cooperation (MPED), which guides the planning, monitoring and evaluation of government policies to promote economic growth and sustainable development.
The Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), which are in charge of entrepreneurship policies.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt's main statistical office that collects statistical information, including gender-disaggregated data.
Business associations, trade unions, non-profit organisations and international donors, which also play an important role with their programmes and policy advocacy role. For example, GAFI co-operates with several international partners on projects that contribute to women’s empowerment, including UN Women and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
There is room to strengthen the co-ordination of entities in charge of investment and gender issues
Co-ordination between governmental and non-governmental actors is crucial to ensuring that policies are coherent and contribute to Egypt's goals. These include issues of equality between men and women, and Egypt's wider sustainable development trajectory as defined in its national development strategy Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt’s Vision 2030 (Government of Egypt, 2023[25]). This strategy outlines Egypt's ambition to become a competitive, inclusive and environmentally sustainable economy and sets clear goals and targets. It considers gender equality and women's empowerment as a cross-cutting issue that intersects with other issues, related to economic growth, education, health, social justice and others. It also recognises the important role of the private sector in supporting these goals. Egypt has several mechanisms to ensure co-ordination on gender, investment and other relevant issues across entities but it is not clear how well these mechanisms work to integrate gender considerations into investment policies and decision making.
The NCW has an important role in co-ordinating between governmental and non-governmental actors on issues impacting women. It played a leading role in the development of the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 (NCW, 2017[26]), which sets goals in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with sustainable development trajectory depicted in Egypt's Vision 2030. The strategy also emphasises the important role the private sector can play in creating employment opportunities for women. Several ministries and agencies have dedicated gender departments or units focusing on gender issues. The Ministry of Labour has the Gender Equality and Non-discrimination Unit, the Ministry of Environment has a Women and Gender Unit, MSMEDA has the Gender Unit, and the Federation of Egyptian Industries has a Women in Business Unit.
Equal Opportunity Units (EOUs) serve as key institutional mechanisms for mainstreaming gender perspectives into strategies, policies, programmes and budgets but not all ministries have them. To date, 32 EOUs have been created at the ministerial level, in addition to others within affiliated entities such as GAFI and MPED. In particular, MPED’s EOU has the objective of promoting gender equality and inclusivity across a broad mandate that encompasses men, women, children and vulnerable groups. The unit also co-ordinates with relevant national entities, including the NCW, to strengthen gender-responsive policymaking. Nevertheless, a number of ministries and agencies engaged in investment-related matters still lack EOUs, including the Ministry of Industry, MCIT and SCEZ. Discussions with Egyptian government representatives further underscored the need for enhanced capacity building to ensure gender considerations are built into all stages of FDI policy development, with particular emphasis on monitoring and evaluation.
It is not clear how EOUs in Egypt co-ordinate with each other and whether they report to the NCW or to the head of the agency in which they are located. OECD consultations indicate that the EOU within GAFI reports to the NCW on a quarterly basis through formal letters and periodic meetings. However, it is not clear whether this co-ordination mechanism applies across all EOUs. In Jordan, the gender units or focal points in the various ministries and agencies are co-ordinated and report directly to the Jordanian National Commission for Women. This ensures more effective mainstreaming of gender issues into policies and programmes and consistency between gender goals and sector-specific goals (OECD, 2022[27]). Egypt can follow this example by strengthening the presence of EOUs in all relevant actors, including introducing a co-ordination mechanism between these units and the NCW if there is not already one in place.
The Supreme Council for Investment plays an important co-ordination role in the investment arena but its membership is not comprehensive. The Council oversees investment policies in all sectors and provinces and is under the direct supervision of the President. Its members include the Prime Minister, the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, MPED, the Ministry of Industry, the CEO of GAFI and several others. However, the NCW and other important ministries for gender issues such as the Ministry of Labour are not represented on the Council and it is not known if they are consulted on investment issues which have implications for women. Including these actors in the Council, or consulting them on a regular basis, would ensure that gender considerations are integrated into investment decisions and that investment policy is aligned with broader gender equality objectives.
Lifting FDI restrictions in some sectors could boost female employment
Restrictions on FDI can limit its positive impact on women’s equality and empowerment, especially in sectors that employ or have the potential to employ many women. Egypt has adhered to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises (OECD, 1976[28]), revised in 2023. As such, it voluntarily undertakes to accord national treatment to foreign investors present on its territory (i.e. to treat foreign-owned or controlled enterprises operating on its territory no less favourably than domestic enterprises in like situations), subject to a list of exceptions, as do other countries adhering to the Declaration. The OECD’s FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index (FDI RRI) shows that Egypt’s investment regime is relatively open (OECD, 2024[29]). In 2024, Egypt scored 0.248 on the Index, which ranges from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating more restrictive regimes. This reflects greater legal discrimination against foreign investors than in regional peers such as Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco, and is also higher than the average for OECD economies (0.049) and for non-OECD economies included in the indicator (0.159). However, it remains less restrictive than other peer economies such as Jordan, Libya and Algeria.
FDI restrictions are mostly concentrated in some male-dominated sectors but also persist in those with higher participation of women. There are higher restrictions in the more male-dominated sectors of construction, media and (maritime) transport but restrictions are also higher than the OECD average in service sectors with higher participation of women, such as real estate, distribution (wholesale trade and retail trade), business services (legal, accounting, architectural and engineering services) and financial services (Figure 1.9). These scores suggest that lifting FDI restrictions can encourage foreign investors to generate jobs that could be filled by women.
Note: Data for female employment refer to 2023 and the OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index (FDI RRI) refers to 2024. The FDI RRI ranges from 0 (open) to 1 (closed) and covers statutory measures discriminating against foreign investors (e.g. foreign equity limits, screening and approval procedures, restriction on key foreign personnel, and other operational measures). It does not consider other important aspects of an investment climate (e.g. the implementation of regulations and state monopolies, preferential treatment for export-oriented investors and SEZ regimes). Moreover, the index does not cover the education and health sectors. For information about how the FDI RRI is calculated, see Kalinova et al. (2010[30])..
Source: OECD elaboration based on OECD (2024[29]); FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index, www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/sustainable-investment/fdi-regulatory-restrictiveness-index.html; and ILO (2025[8]), Employees by sex and economic activity - ISIC level 2 (thousands) (ILOSTAT data explorer), https://rshiny.ilo.org/dataexplorer19/?lang=en&segment=indicator&id=EES_TEES_SEX_EC2_NB_A&channel=ilostat .
Restricting FDI into service sectors may reduce productivity in manufacturing sectors that use such services as inputs in the production process. OECD estimates indicate that Egypt’s manufacturing industries tend to rely much more heavily on inputs from the restricted service sectors than OECD economies on average, suggesting that restrictions may have greater negative effects on the Egyptian economy (OECD, 2020[2]). These negative cross-sectoral spillovers may translate into less favourable labour outcomes for workers, for example if lower productivity is reflected in lower wage levels, especially in sectors where many women work. Since women tend to have less bargaining power over wages than men, reduced productivity associated with FDI restrictions may result in worse labour market outcomes for women.
The OECD FDI RRI does not cover the education and healthcare sectors. Together these sectors employ more than 30% of women working in Egypt, with education accounting for 20% and healthcare 11% (ILO, 2025[8]). Currently, there are no FDI restrictions in these sectors and, based on information available on GAFI’s website, both education and healthcare services are target sectors for investment promotion. In 2019, the Ministry of Education (MoE) introduced a 20% foreign ownership cap for public and international schools (MoE Decrees No. 183 and 184), but this restriction was lifted in 2020 (MoE Decrees No. 237 and 238). However, there are barriers to establishing new educational institutions, which could discourage domestic and foreign investors alike. The laws and regulations governing the establishment and registration of private universities, community colleges, and technical and vocational training centres can be complex, as they involve multiple institutions and layers of approval. In some cases, regulatory decisions may be discretionary and lack clearly defined timelines, which can create uncertainty for investors and education providers. Similar barriers to entry are also found in the healthcare sector. Regulations for licensing healthcare providers tend to be lengthy, cumbersome and costly, involving various agencies with conflicting rules and imposing different fees and payments (IFC, 2020[31]).
Egypt has taken concrete steps to reduce the barriers to investors in both the education and healthcare sectors. It has strengthen the development, delivery and recognition of foreign and joint degrees within the national higher education system. The internationalisation of higher education has been prioritised in national strategies, leading to the establishment of several international branch campuses and the expansion of partnerships with foreign universities. Recent reforms in the healthcare sector include an amendment to the medical licensing law and efforts to bring the healthcare sector into the Golden Licence regime, which aims to streamline approvals and enhance investor predictability (IFC, 2023[32]).
An increased presence of foreign private investors in the education and health sectors can have both positive and negative effects. Benefits include increased physical capacity, infrastructure, supply and quality of services available to citizens. At the same time, FDI can also have a negative impact on the quality of services provided by domestic public and private actors. For example, higher wages and better equipment offered by foreign investors may entice qualified personnel away from public and private domestic facilities, creating or aggravating an internal brain drain. Increasing foreign investors in these sectors could also worsen inequality, by contributing to create a two-tier system with high quality services for the rich and low quality ones for the poor. The impact of FDI in these sectors will depend on existing regulation, which should ensure that FDI complements the domestic sector by expanding the range of services available and increasing their standards and efficiency.
Recent reforms of the investment legal framework can facilitate the positive impact of FDI on women’s economic empowerment
The legal and regulatory framework of the host country can create the conditions for FDI to have a positive impact on sustainable development, including women’s equality. Recent reforms in Egypt marked an important milestone towards a modernised legal and regulatory environment for investment. A new Investment Law (No. 72) adopted in 2017, and its corresponding executive regulation adopted in October 2019, improved the clarity of the overall investment regime. It has consolidated investment rules that had previously been distributed across a number of laws and regulations into a single piece of legislation, as well as addressing some of the most significant procedural problems facing investors (OECD, 2020[2]).
The Investment Law also introduces explicit principles of social responsibility of investors and a series of incentives, some of which are linked to sustainable development results. Article 2 of the 2017 law recognises the instrumental role of investments, both domestic and foreign, in supporting Egypt's sustainable development objectives. The article also contains a principle of equal opportunities between men and women and non-discrimination based on gender in investment opportunities. Article 15 of the law authorises investors to allocate a percentage of their annual profits to the creation of a “social development system” outside their investment projects in areas such as environmental protection; the provision of health, social or cultural services and programmes; support for technical education; or the funding of research, studies and awareness-raising campaigns aimed at developing and improving production, as well as training and scientific research. The amount spent by investors on one of these activities is deductible under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (91/2005). Although the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment is not explicitly listed as an area of social activity, projects pursued by foreign investors in the health, social, cultural and educational spheres could improve women's conditions.
Egypt’s investment incentives have the potential to attract investment which could generate more jobs for women. The 2017 Investment Law introduced a new classification of investment incentives with two categories, based on three criteria: (i) geographic location (SCZone, Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone and other less developed regions, as determined by a decision of the Ministerial Cabinet); (ii) type of investment (labour-intensive, small and medium-sized enterprises, or export-oriented); and (iii) sector (renewable energy; tourism; automotive; wood, chemicals; pharmaceuticals; food and agricultural products; and metal, textile, garments, and leather industries). Investments meeting the first and third criteria fall into category A (leading to a 50% discount on investment costs for up to seven years), while those meeting the second and third criteria fall into category B (30% discount on investment costs over the same period). These incentives have the potential to attract investment in sectors employing more women, such as textiles and garments, chemicals, or other labour-intensive sectors, thereby generating jobs that are likely to be taken by women. Incentives to attract investment in less developed areas can also help to increase female employment, as women in less developed areas have lower employment rates and are more likely to work in the informal economy (UN Women, 2018[13]; ILO, 2025[33]).
Egypt could also expand the range of criteria used to grant tax incentives to include equality goals, as other peer countries have done. Jordan, for example, offers a corporate tax reduction to companies where Jordanian women make up no less than 15% of the workforce, or 25% for textile and clothing companies located in the QIZs (OECD, 2022[27]). However, understanding how these tax incentive programmes influence gender outcomes is important to ensure they are aligned with Egypt's goals. Incentive programmes generate costs and distortions that, in some cases, may outweigh the benefits. Therefore, they should be designed in a transparent manner and regularly subjected to a cost-benefit analysis. The costs to be considered include not only the loss of tax revenue, but also the cost to taxpayers of complying with the tax regime and the administrative costs of running such programmes, which can reduce the fiscal space for other policies to achieve the same goal. These programmes also generate inefficiencies by creating an uneven playing field for companies (OECD, 2015[34])..
Egypt has improved its wider legal framework affecting women in recent years. Legal and regulatory reforms have been introduced affecting women that, while not directly related to the investment sector, will help improve the impact of FDI on outcomes for women (Chapter 3). As well as the removal of restrictions on women's ability to work at night and in specific professions discussed above, the amendment to the Civil Service Act of 2016 has granted working mothers four months of maternity leave instead of three, in line with the recommendations of the ILO (International Labour Organization, 2000[35]) According to UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index, Egypt ranked 101st in 2023, up from 121st a decade earlier, partly attributable to its improved legal framework (UNDP, 2023[36]).
Continuing legal reforms and strengthened enforcement will be key to creating the conditions for the positive effects of FDI on women to materialise. Some legal and regulatory barriers remain that may limit women's ability to take advantage of job opportunities, including those created by foreign multinationals (see Chapter 3). Egypt could also consider strengthening the implementation and enforcement of existing laws and regulations on wages, social benefits, anti-discrimination and anti-sexual harassment provisions in the workplace, particularly in the private sector, where previous studies have identified gaps (RAND Corporation, 2020[37]). Similarly, removing legal barriers that are not enforced in practice would help set clear expectations to foreign investors as well as signal commitment to gender equality.
Investment promotion and facilitation could be used more effectively to support gender equality objectives
Investment promotion and facilitation is increasingly seen as a tool to promote the positive impact of FDI on sustainable development, including in the area of gender equality. As discussed above, investment promotion and facilitation in Egypt is the main responsibility of GAFI. However, two other bodies, IDA and SCEZ, also have functions and powers in this area (Figure 9.8). According to a recent survey of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) conducted by the OECD (OECD, 2018[38]), GAFI uses several criteria to prioritise investment projects. These criteria aim to maximise the impact of FDI not only on the economy, but also on society more widely. These include, for example, the impact of investment projects on job creation and wages.
GAFI targets several sectors in its investment attraction activities. According to its website, these cover the primary sector (agriculture, mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy), the manufacturing sector (food processing, pharmaceuticals and medical industries, textiles and garments, automotive, and ICT) and the service sector (education, financial and insurance services, healthcare, real estate, and tourism and retail). With some exceptions, the priority sectors overlap with those benefiting from tax incentives, as identified in the 2017 Investment Law.
Education and health are strategic sectors for Egypt's economic development, as stated in Egypt’s Vision 2030. Although GAFI’s investment promotion strategy is not public, and therefore cannot be known for certain, it would appear that these sectors have only recently been included in the list of targeted sectors for investment promotion. Other target sectors where investment is likely to generate important gender effects are agriculture, food processing, textiles/ready-made garments and retail, which together account for around one-third of female employment in Egypt (ILO, 2025[8]). With the exception of retail, companies in these sectors are offered tax incentives.
IDA and SCEZ also target a similar list of sectors in their promotion activities. IDA, which is responsible for promoting FDI in Egypt’s industrial zones, targets sectors including chemicals, engineering, textiles/ready-made garments, food and building materials – which align with both GAFI’s priorities and the list provided in the Investment Law. SCEZ, which oversees investment in the Suez Canal area, targets logistics, energy, several medium- and high-tech sectors (chemicals and pharmaceuticals), as well as textiles/ready-made garments and other light manufacturing sectors (electronics and electric batteries). IDA's and SCEZ's investment promotion efforts, particularly in the chemical and textiles/ready-made garments sectors, may have a positive impact on female employment, given the greater tendency of women to work in these sectors.
Greater transparency could strengthen assessment of how these bodies are helping to meet Egypt’s investment and sustainable development goals. As the investment promotion strategies of GAFI, IDA and SCEZ are not publicly accessible, including their objectives and KPIs, it is difficult to fully assess the effectiveness of their investment attraction efforts and their impact on gender outcomes. GAFI has clarified that its departments systematically collect company-level data. The FDI Department gathers information required for FDI analysis, the Economic Performance Departments collect financial performance data and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Department compiles information on companies’ CSR projects and their community impact. Greater transparency on how these data inform strategy would further strengthen assessment. For example, annual financial statements collected by GAFI can act as a starting point for assessing the alignment of investment projects with investment promotion and national development priorities.
GAFI, IDA and SCEZ also carry out facilitation and aftercare activities. These activities are important as they can influence the decision of companies to stay in the country and reinvest. From a gender perspective, they are important because they can enable the retention of investments or the expansion of investment projects that create many jobs for women. The 2017 Investment Law introduced new mechanisms for this, such as the Investors Services Centre (ISC), which functions as a one-stop shop covering all the information and procedures needed to start a business in Egypt. The ISC also has a mechanism enabling GAFI to follow investors after their establishment. These mechanisms are important to ensure that investors create deep links with the local economy and contribute to Egypt’s development agenda in the long run.
Investment facilitation and aftercare activities can also be used to actively promote the positive impact of FDI on gender equality. For instance, IPAs in several counties collaborate with other government agencies to facilitate linkages between foreign companies and women-owned enterprises. Such linkages may take the form of supplier-buyer relationships, collaborations, or equity relationships (Box 1.5). GAFI, IDA and SCEZ may consider developing similar programmes independently or in co-operation with other government bodies.
Invest India’s WING Women Rise Together: Invest India co-ordinates Start-up India, a national initiative launched by the Prime Minister in 2016, which aims to improve the business environment by facilitating business linkages and reducing regulatory barriers for entrepreneurs. To address the specific needs of, and barriers faced by, women entrepreneurs, in 2020 Invest India along with other partners launched a capacity building programme under this initiative to support women-led start-ups. The programme helps them to network and make connections with local ecosystems, including international investors, as well as encouraging collaboration and peer learning, and providing mentorship and other business support services (Government of India, 2020[39]).
SelectUSA’s Select Global Women in Tech Program: in 2021, SelectUSA launched the Select Global Women in Tech Program in partnership with the International Trade Administration. The programme introduces female tech founders, entrepreneurs and executives from different countries to the US market, with the aim of matching them with American mentors to support their investment project in the United States, while stimulating economic growth and innovation in the US market. Although the main objective of the programme is the introduction of foreign women-led companies into the US supply chain, it can also generate opportunities to link American women-led firms with incoming companies (SelectUSA, 2023[40]).
Egypt can make greater use of international agreements and initiatives to encourage sustainable investment
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises can help raise awareness of responsible business conduct (RBC), including labour practices and gender equality (OECD, 2023[41]). The Guidelines are non-binding recommendations, supported by employers' and workers' organisations, that adhering governments address to companies operating in or from their countries. The Guidelines recommend that companies observe RBC standards and undertake risk-based due diligence to identify, prevent and mitigate any actual and potential negative impacts of their operations. All countries adhering to the Guidelines have a legal obligation to establish a National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct (NCP) with a mandate to promote the Guidelines and to act as a non-judicial complaint mechanism in the event of alleged non-compliance with the Guidelines by a company.
Egypt was the first Arab and African country to sign up to the Guidelines when it became an adherent in 2007. Following this accession, Egypt established an NCP, although it remained inactive for a long time. It is housed at GAFI, which could be perceived as a conflict of interest given the NCP’s mandate to hold companies accountable for non-compliance with the Guidelines. As of 2024, the NCP was assigned four part-time staff members in addition to the Head of the NCP, reflecting recent efforts to strengthen its institutional capacity. The NCP has developed a promotional plan and initiated awareness-raising activities, although these remain at an early stage and are not yet backed by a dedicated budget. The NCP has not yet engaged in peer reviews, and its procedures for handling specific instances remain limited in visibility. To date, no reports of violations of the guidelines have been received since the NCP was established (OECD, 2024[42]). The collaboration of the Egyptian NCP with key stakeholders (trade unions, business associations) will also be important to effectively promote RBC standards along supply chains, especially in sectors where risks are highest, such as garments and textiles, where female and child labour are more prevalent (OECD, 2020[2]).
Egypt has signed international trade agreements that contain provisions aiming at reinforcing the positive contribution of investors to sustainable development, with explicit references to gender equality. Egypt is one of 54 signatory countries to the African Continental Free Trade Area and its Investment Protocol (African Union, 2023[43]), which entered into force in May 2019. The Protocol aims to promote, facilitate and protect intra-African investment flows that support the sustainable development of signatory countries. It contains several articles encouraging the attraction of investments that promote gender equality (Articles 7 and 34) and committing signatory countries to continuing to improve labour standards in their national laws and regulations in line with international standards (Article 22), as well as the obligation for investors to comply with these standards (Articles 27 and 29).
The EU-Egypt Association Agreement, in force since 2004, also contains several provisions on gender equality. The agreement, which creates a free trade area between the EU and Egypt by eliminating tariffs on industrial products and facilitating trade in agricultural products, includes several co-operation provisions on gender equality. These clauses aim to improve co-operation between the signatory parties to promote women's access to higher education and training (Article 42) and the role of women in economic and social development (Article 65).
The inclusion of gender provisions in trade and investment agreements has increased in recent times. Although the impact of these provisions is not yet clear or assessed, they demonstrate the desire of signatory countries to influence not only the quantity but also the quality of investments attracted (OECD, 2022[5]). These provisions can help enforce national laws on gender equality, or in other areas of sustainable development. They can also compel signatory countries to adopt and implement international conventions and standards on gender, labour and human rights, and encourage compliance by international investors. Egypt is recommended to favour trade and investment agreements that contain such provisions and ensure that it allocates sufficient resources for their implementation.
Recommendation 1: Attract FDI in women-intensive sectors such as health, education and services
Rebalancing investment inflows towards sectors where women work will even out the impact of FDI on women’s labour market outcomes: Policymakers can:
Policy consideration 1. Remove or reduce FDI restrictions in sectors with high female labour participation, not just in education and healthcare but also real estate, distribution, and business and financial services.
Policy consideration 2. Design investment tax incentive programmes to attract FDI in ways that do not reduce equality between men and women in the labour market, or to directly support gender equality goals.
Policy consideration 3. Leverage investment promotion and facilitation tools to support equality objectives and increase the transparency of the policies of GAFI, IDA and SCEZ to show how their investment attraction and facilitation efforts contribute to national gender equality goals.
Recommendation 2: Encourage companies benefitting from FDI to adopt inclusive policies and targets
A strong set of policies and well co-ordinated institutions will help reinforce alignment with international standards and encourage investors to also meet those standards. To this end, Egypt can:
Policy consideration 1. Strengthen the co-ordination of government actors responsible for investment and gender to ensure gender considerations are better integrated into policies. This includes ensuring all bodies responsible for investment have equal opportunity units, co-ordinated by the NCW, as well as giving the NCW a role in the Supreme Investment Council.
Policy consideration 2. Consider facilitating capacity building on gender mainstreaming in FDI policies, to help government representatives to take account of gender issues through all stages of FDI policy, from formulation to monitoring and evaluation.
Policy consideration 3.Continue to engage in international agreements and initiatives supporting equality between men and women, including gender provisions into its international trade and investment agreements, while strengthening the role of its National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct.
Recommendation 3: Remove legal and non-legal barriers preventing women from participating in FDI-linked jobs
As well as encouraging FDI inflows into women-intensive sectors, Egypt can also ensure investment improves women’s labour market outcomes by enabling them to participate more in the sectors currently attracting the bulk of the inward investment. To this end, policymakers can:
Policy consideration 1. Remove legal restrictions preventing women from entering certain sectors and professions and counter social norms limiting which jobs are deemed suitable for women.
Policy consideration 2. Provide safe and affordable transport and accommodation so that women, especially those in rural areas, can access jobs in urban areas, where foreign companies tend to locate.
Recommendation 4: Strengthen training and skills development to prepare women for opportunities in FDI-driven industries
For women to be able to fully benefit from inward investment, they need to have the capacity to participate in the relevant industries. To this end, Egypt can:
Policy consideration 1. Promote initiatives that directly support women's economic empowerment, such as encouraging the development of linkages between foreign investors and local women-owned enterprises.
References
[43] African Union (2023), Protocol to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area on Investment, Addis Ababa: African Union Commission, https://au.int/en/treaties/protocol-agreement-establishing-african-continental-free-trade-area-investment.
[11] CAPMAS (2017), General Census for Population, Housing and Establishments 2017, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, https://censusinfo.capmas.gov.eg/metadata-en-v4.2/index.php/catalog/621.
[9] Central Bank of Egypt (2023), External Position of the Egyptian Economy 2022/2023, Central Bank of Egypt, https://www.cbe.org.eg/en/economic-research/economic-reports/external-position-of-egyption-economy.
[10] fDi Markets (2025), Database of crossborder greenfield investments, FT Locations, https://www.fdimarkets.com/.
[25] Government of Egypt (2023), Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030, Government of Egypt, http://sdsegypt2030.com/?lang=en.
[39] Government of India (2020), WING Women Rise Together, https://www.startupindia.gov.in/content/sih/en/ams-application/workshop.html?applicationId=5e52605de4b0bf8415d02091.
[20] Hotelier (2022), How Marriott International champions women in the workplace, https://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/people/marriott-international-championing-women.
[24] ICRW Advisors (2020), “Enhancing gender equity within textile, clothing, and footwear manufacturing: A case study on Yeşim Apparel and Textiles”, Case Study, ICRW Advisors, https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/A-Case-Study-on-Yesim-Apparel-and-Textiles.pdf.
[32] IFC (2023), Egypt: Health Sector Deep Dive: Realizing the Full Potential of a Productive Private Sector, Country Private Sector Diagnostic, International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, https://www.ifc.org/content/dam/ifc/doc/2023/egypt-private-sector-diagnostic-health-sector-deep-dive.pdf.
[31] IFC (2020), Creating Markets in Egypt: Realizing the Full Potential of a Productive Private Sector, Country Private Sector Diagnostic, International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/288811613142382664.
[8] ILO (2025), Employees by sex and economic activity - ISIC level 2 (thousands) (ILOSTAT data explorer), International Labour Organzation, https://rshiny.ilo.org/dataexplorer19/?lang=en&segment=indicator&id=EES_TEES_SEX_EC2_NB_A&channel=ilostat.
[33] ILO (2025), Informal Economy Diagnostic Study in Egypt, International Labour Organization, Geneva, https://doi.org/10.54394/nmni6374.
[35] International Labour Organization (2000), Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), Geneva: International Labour Office., https://www.ilo.org (or the specific ILO REG instrument page: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C183).
[30] Kalinova, B., A. Palerm and S. Thomsen (2010), “OECD FDI Restrictiveness Index: 2010 Update”, OECD Working Papers on International Investment, No. 2010/03, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5km91p02zj7g-en.
[14] Kodama, N., B. Javorcik and Y. Abe (2018), “Transplanting corporate culture across international borders: Foreign direct investment and female employment in Japan”, The World Economy, Vol. 41/1, pp. 1148–1165, https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12612.
[17] Korinek, J., E. Moïsé and J. Tange (2021), “Trade and gender: A framework of analysis”, OECD Trade Policy Papers, No. 246, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6db59d80-en.
[21] Lafarge Egypt (2021), Lafarge Egypt and GIZ Reinforce Diversity & Inclusion in Cement Industry, Lafarge Egypt, https://www.lafarge.com.eg/en/lafarge-egypt-and-giz-reinforce-diversity-inclusion-cement-industry.
[23] NCW (2021), Vodafone and the Egyptian Gender Equity Seal, National Council for Women, http://ncw.gov.eg/Images/PdfRelease/Egyptian%20Gender%20Equity%20Seal_Vo-92021147172482.pdf.
[26] NCW (2017), National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 - Visions and Pillars, National Council of Women, http://ncw.gov.eg/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/final-version-national-strategy-for-the-empowerment-of-egyptian-women-2030.pdf.
[29] OECD (2024), FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index, https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/sustainable-investment/fdi-regulatory-restrictiveness-index.html.
[42] OECD (2024), National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct in a Changeing Landscape: 2024 Annual Report on NCP Activity, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/networks/national-contact-points/OECD-2024-Annual-Report-on-NCP-Activity.pdf.
[3] OECD (2024), OECD Economic Surveys: Egypt 2024, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/af900de2-en.
[41] OECD (2023), OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/81f92357-en.
[7] OECD (2022), FDI Qualities Indicators 2022, OECD, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/topics/policy-sub-issues/fdi-qualities-and-impact/FDI-Qualities-Indicators-2022.pdf.
[5] OECD (2022), FDI Qualities Policy Toolkit, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/7ba74100-en.
[27] OECD (2022), FDI Qualities Review of Jordan: Strengthening Sustainable Investment, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/736c77d2-en.
[2] OECD (2020), OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Egypt 2020, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9f9c589a-en.
[6] OECD (2019), FDI Qualities Indicators: Measuring the Sustainable Development Impacts of Investment, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0894dfba-en.
[38] OECD (2018), Mapping of Investment Promotion Agencies in OECD Countries, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/098e4f0e-en.
[18] OECD (2017), The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264281318-en.
[34] OECD (2015), Policy Framework for Investment, 2015 Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264208667-en.
[28] OECD (1976), Revised Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises, OECD, Paris, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0144.
[37] RAND Corporation (2020), Barriers to Employment that Women Face in Egypt: Policy Challenges and Considerations, RAND Corporation, https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR2800/RR2868/RAND_RR2868.pdf.
[40] SelectUSA (2023), Select Global Women in Tech, https://www.trade.gov/select-global-women-tech.
[15] Tang, H. and Y. Zhang (2021), “Do multinationals transfer culture? Evidence on female employment in China”, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2021.103518.
[13] UN Women (2018), Profile of Women in Rural Egypt, UN Women Egypt Country Office, Cairo, https://egypt.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20Egypt/Attachments/Publications/2018/05/Profile%20of%20rural%20women%20%20final%20version.pdf.
[1] UNCTAD (2025), UNCTAD Data Hub: Foreign direct investment: Inward and outward flows and stock, annual, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/Index.html.
[4] UNCTAD (2023), World Investment Report 2023, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, https://unctad.org/publication/world-investment-report-2023.
[36] UNDP (2023), Gender Inequality Index (GII), United Nations Development Programme, https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/thematic-composite-indices/gender-inequality-index#/indicies/GII.
[19] UNESCO - L’Oréal (2023), For Women in Science: Egypt - National Program, https://www.forwomeninscience.com/authority/egypt---national-program.
[16] World Bank (2025), Economies - Formal Sector Enterprise Surveys: Egypt Arab Republic, World Bank, https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data/exploreeconomies/2025/egypt.
[22] World Bank (2011), Fostering Women’s Economic Empowerment through Special Economic Zones, World Bank, Washington, DC, https://doi.org/10.1596/27441.
[12] Zeitoun, N. et al. (2023), “Social norms and female labor force participation in Egypt”, eMBeD Brief, World Bank, Washington, DC, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099061823220039155.
← 1. Currently, seven types of zones co-exist in Egypt: public and private free zones (FZs), investment zones, technological zones, special economic zones (SEZs), qualifying industrial zones (QIZs), and industrial zones. Most of them are governed by specific laws, are overseen by different ministries, operate within a distinct regulatory and institutional framework, provide different types of incentives to investors, and often have overlapping objectives. For a detailed review of the investment regimes of each type of zone see OECD (2020[2]).