Accelerator

Egypt’s Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator

"Addressing gender equality and women economic empowerment is at the heart of Egypt’s program to ‘build back better’, as we see its quantifiable impact on GDP, productivity and as a catalyst to push the UN SDGs forward.” H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation

Overview

The Ministry of International Cooperation (MOIC) and the National Council for Women (NCW), together with the World Economic Forum (WEF) took the initiative to launch “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” in July 2020.

Through launching such a model, Egypt is the first country in the Middle East and Africa (MENA) to launch this unique public-private collaboration model supported by the WEF platform.

The model supports public and private leaders “in shaping innovative pathways to promote gender equality, diversity, inclusion and economic mobility” through a three-year action plan, which is central to Egypt’s reform agenda.



“We are delighted that Egypt will be the first country from the region to join the global network of Closing the Gender Gap Accelerators. Egypt has made tremendous investments in its human capital foundation by expanding women’s higher education in recent years. The accelerator will support local efforts to unleash the full potential of women in the Egyptian economy,” Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director and Head of the Centre for the New Economy and Society at the World Economic Forum.

Egypt’s Action Plan

Closing the gender gap accelerator will be the hub for all the initiatives that fall under the Women’s Economic Empowerment Pillar of the Egyptian National Strategy for the Empowerment of Women 2030. It will also be the enabler for the economic opportunities for women to recover from the Covid19 pandemic. Adapting this tool to the Egyptian context is another guide that is used to enhance our own strategized & coordinated efforts for an effective and efficient outcome” H.E. Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women.



At the current pace of change it could take 257 years to fully close the economic gender gap. But the World Economic Forum’s Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator initiative is speeding up the process in the countries it’s working with. World Economic Forum, December 2019

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