Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Hanafi El-Gebali said that women are a key pillar and an authentic partner in achieving sustainable development, asserting that women’s empowerment is no longer a marginal issue on the international agenda.
Addressing the 5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, El Gebali noted that the international community has exerted intense and tireless efforts to consolidate a culture of women’s empowerment globally, reviewing the international community’s efforts in this regard.
Moreover, he confirmed that the Egyptian state is keen to achieve real and fundamental empowerment of Egyptian women, in a way that guarantees the Egyptian society to make full use of its human power.
El-Gebali also highlighted Egypt’s efforts to empower women at all political and economic levels.
Moreover, El-Gebali indicated the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic repercussions on women, referring to the Egyptian state’s endeavors to spare women the negative effects of this global pandemic.
He also tackled the legislative efforts to support women, noting that Egypt was keen to issue legislation to protect Egyptian women, such as a new legislative amendment toughening penalties on sexual harassment crimes, in order to ensure the safe participation of Egyptian women in public life.
Concluding his speech, the Parliament Speaker stressed that many challenges are still facing women’s empowerment issues, calling for the exchange of experiences and visions to come up with a true assessment in this regard at all levels.
Earlier this week the Parliament Speaker, heading a high-level delegation travelled to Australia to take part in the 5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament and the 1st global parliamentary summit on counter-terrorism.
The delegation includes Phoebe Fawzy, Senate Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Manna, Secretary-General of the parliament, MP Karim Darwish, Chairman of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr Abdel Hai Ebeid, Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign, Arab and African Affairs Committee, and MP Sahar al-Bazar.
