Over the past few years, Egypt has implemented economic reforms to promote strong, inclusive and sustainable growth, while emphasising the crucial role of women in that process. The Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 demonstrate a strong commitment to enhancing women’s economic empowerment, fostering a more competitive society and maximising economic and social benefits.
Egypt has shown resilience in navigating successive global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and recent supply-chain disruptions. These events have also brought increased attention to socio-economic disparities and the particular challenges faced by women in the labour market and business. This context highlights the importance of ongoing efforts to enhance the legal and policy framework that supports women’s economic participation as part of sustainable development. As a leading country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Africa as a whole, Egypt is playing a significant role in advancing this agenda.
In that context, Egypt has prioritised the economic and social empowerment of women and youth in its recent strategic policy development. Egypt’s Vision 2030 aims to increase female labour force participation, improve the country’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index, and achieve the gender equality targets outlined in Sustainable Development Goal 5. This direction is further reinforced in the National Narrative for Comprehensive Development recently launched by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, which positions women’s empowerment as a core driver of inclusive growth and human development. It calls for tackling structural barriers, aligning skills with future labour needs, and strengthening the care economy to support women’s full participation in productive sectors. The financial inclusion of women is also a key priority in Egypt’s reform agenda, as reflected in its Financial Inclusion Strategy (2022-2025).
As Egypt intensifies its efforts to enhance women's participation in the economy, this report – developed as part of the Egypt-OECD Country Programme (ECP) – aims to support the country’s ambitious reforms and the implementation of government priorities. The Country Programme has also adopted gender mainstreaming across a range of projects, to promote inclusivity and competitiveness in Egypt. In addition, the report aligns with the long-standing co-operation between Egypt and the OECD at the regional level, particularly through the MENA-OECD Initiative on Governance and Competitiveness for Development. Egypt is co-chairing this Initiative, as well as the MENA-OECD Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum (WEEF), bringing its experiences on advancing women’s economic empowerment to the regional level and facilitating policy dialogue and peer learning.
This report provides a comprehensive strategic framework aimed at unlocking women's economic potential so that women can fully contribute to Egypt’s sustainable development while benefiting from its economic and social advancements. By assessing reforms, laws and public policies implemented in recent years against international best practice and providing targeted recommendations, it seeks to support Egyptian policymakers in implementing the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030. The report places special emphasis on implementing legal reforms to promote women’s economic empowerment, improving access to education and skills, creating quality jobs, and fostering a more equal sharing of care responsibilities. It also addresses the importance of enhancing work-life balance and examining social attitudes that influence socio-economic outcomes between women and men. Strengthening women’s entrepreneurship is a key focus, through enhancing women’s financial literacy, access to finance, and tailored and accessible entrepreneurship programmes. The report also explores opportunities presented by megatrends, such as demographic and digital transitions, for advancing gender equality. Finally, it highlights the importance of international engagement in supporting women’s economic empowerment, emphasising the respective roles of foreign direct investment and development co-operation in reinforcing Egypt’s national efforts to create a more inclusive and competitive society. This review was produced through desk research, data collection and analysis, questionnaires, consultation missions and interviews with relevant stakeholders, including representatives from the government, private sector, civil society and international and regional organisations active in the country.
Finally, an important note: The first draft of this publication was shared in mid-2024 and subsequently underwent several rounds of review and revision throughout 2024 and 2025. Data and policy initiatives on women’s economic empowerment in Egypt presented in the report therefore reflect information available at the time the drafting was being completed.