Egypt appoints first-ever female governor

CAIRO – 19 February 2017: Nadia Ahmed Abdo has become Egypt’s first female governor, being sworn into office on Thursday as the head of the Nile Delta Governorate of Beheira.
Abdo’s appointment was part of a limited government reshuffle, including five governors and nine new ministers.

Abdo, who had been serving as the deputy governor of Beheira since 2013, has gained the nickname “iron woman” due to a long record of public service. She was also the first woman to serve as chief chairperson of the Alexandria Drinking Water Company, holding the post between 2002 and 2012.

In an interview on Egyptian national television a year prior to her appointment, then deputy governor Abdo affirmed that being a woman has not created any obstacles for her job. “The Egyptian citizen,; whether in the countryside, the industrial sector, or the urban sector, accepts any leader who has a vision and a respectable policy,” Abdo said.

According to Beheira Governorate’s official website, the new governor graduated from the Faculty of Engineering's Chemistry Department in Alexandria in 1968, and she holds a master’s degree in environmental health.

Abdou was also nominated by Alexandria’s governor for the Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum award for Arab management.