Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has met with Sima Bahous, the Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women), during her current visit to Egypt. They discussed recent women’s empowerment decisions and projects launched by the state to enhance the position of women in the country.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said, and Christine Arab, the representative of UN Women in Egypt.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister congratulated Bahous on her new position saying, “We are proud of you as an Arab at the head of this UN institution”, expressing confidence in the valuable additions you will provide to this institution.
Madbouly praised the distinguished cooperation with UN Women on issues related to the empowerment of women at various levels, pointing out that women received unprecedented support under the reign of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, which was reflected in the constitutional amendments to increase the representation of women in parliament which reached 25%.
Many women were appointed in senior positions, such as governors and deputy ministers. President Al-Sisi also allowed appointment of women in the public prosecution and the State Council for the first time.
With regard to economic empowerment, the Prime Minister highlighted the programmes and initiatives launched by the state to empower women economically, especially for the most needy groups such as divorced women, widows, and breadwinners.
Madbouly reviewed the features of the new presidential initiative to be launched next month for “Egyptian Family Development”, some of its axes targeting the development of both rural and urban women, removing societal pressures from them to enhance their empowerment in society and increasing their participation in the labor market.
The prime minister added that the state has taken legislative and procedural steps to reduce violence against women, including toughening penalties for the crime of harassment, issues of violence against women, underage marriage, and others.
Bahous thanked Egypt for its achievements in the field of women’s empowerment, saying that the women’s file in Egypt is very honorable, thanks to the political leadership that supports it, making progress in this regard and thanked President Al-Sisi, for his continuous support for women and his efforts to empower them at all levels.
She also pointed out that Egypt’s tireless efforts in this file were also crowned by winning the membership of the Executive Council of the United Nations Women and the Committee on the Status of Women.
Bahous’ visit coincided with the launch of a 16-day campaign to face violence against women in Egypt, under the slogan “Kony” (Be).
For her part, Hala El-Said reviewed the efforts to empower Egyptian women within the 2030 strategy, which is in line with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, in addition to the launch of many initiatives and programs that focused on empowering women.
She added that work is currently underway to provide one million job opportunities for women through a number of small projects, and to provide training and qualification for them through the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and the National Training Academy.
