The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Misr Insurance Holding Company (MIHC) have signed an agreement that will help increase job opportunities for women and advance their careers at Egypt’s largest non-banking finance group.
MIHC subsidiaries are among Egypt’s leading insurance sector companies, and the Group is the first public business sector holding company to sign a gender agreement with the IFC.
Across the company’s subsidiaries employing approximately 13,000 staff members, MIHC has multiple females in leadership positions and occupying seats on executive committees.
The IFC’s advisory team will carry out an assessment to identify the gaps between female and male employees in the company’s workforce. The assessment will also identify challenges and opportunities to recruite and retain female employees in the company.
The corporation will also help the MIHC create a long-term career path for women, by introducing practices and policies to support their progress. This also aims to build an empowering company culture, and increase the number of women at all levels.
Commenting on the agreement, Basel El Hini, MIHC Chairperson and Managing Director, said, “For the past few years, Misr Insurance Holding Company and our subsidiaries have given women and their progression priority on our internal agendas for transformational change.”
He added, “Partnering with the IFC and other institutions further cements our commitment in taking this to the next level and in our role in advancing gender equality in the workforce as a whole and in the insurance and non-banking financial services sphere specifically.”
Only 22% of working-age women participated in Egypt’s labour market in 2020, compared to 70 percent of men.
Closing the gap between the participation of women and women in the labour market is critical for economic growth, as the country’s GDP could rise by 34% if both genders participated equally in the labour force.
“The IFC is offering its global expertise to support MIHC in identifying ways to improve working conditions for women and advance gender equality,” said Walid Labadi, the IFC’s Country Manager for Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
Labadi noted that he is looking forward to seeing more private and public companies play a role in strengthening Egypt’s inclusivity and diversity, including through empowering women in the job market.
