Promoting women’s economic empowerment is a cornerstone of Egypt’s sustainable development agenda and its economic reform efforts. Over the past decade, Egypt has taken important steps to advance gender equality through Vision 2030, the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women (2017), the National Human Rights Strategy (2021) and the National Narrative for Comprehensive Development (2025). These frameworks set ambitious targets, including raising women’s labour force participation to 22.3% by 2030 and expanding women’s role in entrepreneurship and leadership.
Women’s educational achievements have grown impressively: today, women enrol in tertiary education at higher rates than men, and Egypt is a regional leader in narrowing gender gaps in attainment. Despite this progress, women remain underrepresented in the labour market and in entrepreneurship. Addressing remaining barriers – whether legal, institutional, or social – offers Egypt an opportunity to accelerate growth, strengthen resilience and achieve its development goals. Closing gender gaps in economic participation would unlock significant growth potential, underlining the transformative impact of greater inclusion and the ability to harness Egypt’s demographic transition to create quality jobs for young women.
This report explores the drivers of women’s economic empowerment in Egypt and the opportunities emerging from demographic change, globalisation, digitalisation and the green transition. It assesses legal and policy frameworks, access to education and skills, labour market participation, entrepreneurship, the influence of social norms, and the role of international investment and development partners. The findings are complemented with international benchmarks and examples of good practice, offering practical guidance to help Egypt achieve its Vision 2030 commitments.
Key findings:
Strong commitment and strategies: Gender equality is a national priority, anchored in Vision 2030 and supported by targeted strategies. Recent legal reforms on labour and social protection have expanded opportunities for women.
Educational progress: Women’s participation in secondary and tertiary education has risen markedly. Enrolment in STEM disciplines is increasing, supported by scholarships and mentorship schemes. Yet disparities remain, particularly for girls in rural and disadvantaged areas, where early school dropout and limited access to quality education persist. Early childhood education enrolment remains particularly low, limiting children’s long-term learning outcomes and women’s ability to participate in the labour force.
Labour market gaps: Women’s labour force participation has yet to fully translate into equal labour market outcomes, as women remain concentrated in informal jobs and underrepresented in leadership and entrepreneurship.
Evolving legal framework: Progress includes lifting most restrictions on women’s employability, mandating board representation, and strengthening protection from violence, while gaps remain in enforcement, equal pay and restrictions on certain sectors and night work.
Constraining social norms: Despite statutory legal reforms, informal laws and social norms continue to limit women’s access to assets and resources, underscoring the need for stronger enforcement and policies to shift restrictive social norms.
Onerous care responsibilities: Women continue to carry a disproportionate share of domestic and caregiving tasks. Childcare supply remains far below demand, and the very limited provision of paid paternity leave reinforces women's disproportionate care burden. Expanding childcare and long-term care services can unlock new opportunities for labour market participation.
Entrepreneurship potential: While women are less likely than men to start or manage a business, targeted support in finance, mentoring and export readiness could significantly boost women-led enterprises.
Investment and development co-operation opportunities: Current FDI flows remain concentrated in capital-intensive, male-dominated sectors, limiting the creation of quality employment opportunities for women. Foreign investment and development programmes can be leveraged to further integrate gender objectives, maximising their positive impact on women’s empowerment.
Policy recommendations
Building on Egypt’s tangible progress, further reforms and more co-ordinated policies can help unlock the full potential of women’s economic participation. By enhancing legal protections, investing in skills and care systems, fostering entrepreneurship, and leveraging international partnerships, Egypt can accelerate progress towards gender equality and ensure inclusive growth for all:
1. Leverage megatrends to boost women’s empowerment: invest in family planning and childcare policies, support women’s participation in sectors linked to global value chains, and give women the skills to embrace digital technologies and to participate fully in the green transition.
2. Implement legal frameworks that promote, monitor, and enforce gender equality: update laws and close gaps in the law to actively promote women’s economic rights and access to assets, revisit parental leave policies and expand legal coverage of social insurance, strengthen the legal and policy framework to protect women from all forms of violence, address restrictive social norms and informal laws, and ensure stricter law enforcement.
3. Spread a culture of equality through a whole-of-society approach: involve local communities and their leaders in transforming gender norms and promoting equality, harness both traditional and social media platforms to challenge and reshape gender stereotypes, and adapt school curricula to encourage more equitable perceptions of gender roles and promote the visibility of women in leadership and non-traditional roles.
4. Increase access to education and skills: promote girls’ participation in education and tackle early school leaving, especially in rural and disadvantaged areas; encourage participation in high-quality early childhood education and care; and encourage more girls to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and technical education to make better use of Egypt’s talent pool.
5. Achieve a more gender-equal sharing of care responsibilities: develop a comprehensive policy strategy to create the conditions for a more gender-equitable division of work and care responsibilities, including improving access to early childcare and elderly care services; expanding access to paid parental leave for fathers; offering flexible work practices such as teleworking to help parents reconcile work and care; and changing attitudes to normalise the sharing of household and family responsibilities.
6. Promote gender equality in the labour market: implement measures to support good quality jobs for the whole population, including strengthening Egypt’s employment legislative framework, supporting formalisation, introducing pay transparency measures, and increasing women’s voice and access to leadership positions.
7. Boost women’s entrepreneurship: provide an overarching strategy for women’s entrepreneurship and harmonise definitions; strengthen access to finance for women entrepreneurs as well as to business support services better tailored to their needs; and organise campaigns to change perceptions surrounding women’s role as entrepreneurs, encouraging them to formalise and access support.
8. Maximise the impact of FDI on women’s economic empowerment: increase 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. Create a coherent set of investment and gender-related policies and well co-ordinated institutions to encourage companies benefitting from investment to adopt inclusive policies and targets.
9. Ensure development co-operation promotes women’s economic empowerment and does no harm: systematically incorporate gender considerations during planning, decision making and implementation of ODA-funded projects to ensure their beneficial impact on women’s economic empowerment and prevent negative consequences. Support the creation of an enabling environment for civil society to operate and engage in development, as key development partners. Include measures to prevent and respond to violence against women in all development co-operation programmes.