GIZ is cooperating with around 20 companies in four countries—Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco—to promote women in the workforce.
Hildegard Vogelmann, programme manager of promoting employment of young women through applied gender diversity (EconoWin), told Daily News Egypt that GIZ provides financial support for each company estimated at approximately €35,000, as well as technical support.
The Egyptian companies cooperating with GIZ in implementing gender diversity and women promotion are Marib, Raya IT, Raya Contact Center, Vodafone Egypt, Green Valley, General Motors, and Juhayna.
Vogelmann added that the programme targets women integration, women employment and promotion, and retention of women in the workforce.
“The countries of the Middle East and North Africa have the world’s lowest female participation rates within the workforce. Women make up only approximately one fifth of the employees,” Vogelmann noted.
“Women are less likely to be recruited than men despite possessing necessary skills,” Vogelmann added.
The McKinsey Global Institute estimated that bridging the gender gap could add up to $2.7tn to the annual GDP of the MENA region by 2025, according to Vogelmann.
Egypt ranked 134th out of 144 countries on the Global Gender Gap Report issued on 2 November by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for the year 2017.
The report noted that Egypt ranked 10th among 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Israel ranked first among the countries of the region and tenth in the world index, followed by Tunisia (117th), the United Arab Emirates (120th), Bahrain (126th), Algeria (127th), Kuwait (129th), Qatar (130th), Turkey (131st), Mauritania (132nd), Jordan (135th), Morocco (136th), Lebanon (137th), Saudi Arabia (138th), Iran (140th), Syria (142nd), and Yemen (144th).
“The Middle East and North Africa region is the lowest-ranked region in the index, with an average remaining gender gap of 40%,” read the report.
