Al-Mashat: Egypt ranks 1st in region for taking 21 measures to support women during COVID-19

CAIRO – 12 October 2020: Minister of International Cooperation Rania al-Mashat that Egypt was ranked the first place in the Middle East and West Asia regions for taking 21 measures to support women during the Coronavirus pandemic period.

Al-Mashat's comments came while marking the International Day of the Girl Child, which falls on October 11. Her remarks were on Egypt’s ranking in a UNDP report. 

“Congratulations to Dr. Maya Morsi, we continue to work together to bridge the gender gap,” Al-Mashat said in a tweet.

Holistic response to COVID-19

Egyptian President of the National Council for Women (NCW) Maya Morsy expressed her deep pride and happiness for the UN commendation for Egypt’s efforts in supporting women during the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In the report issued on September 28 by the UN Women and the United Nations Development Program on the measures taken by countries around the world to support women during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Some 63 per cent of all gender-sensitive measures in Northern Africa and Western Asia focus on preventing and/or responding to violence against women and girls. Most of these measures have been taken in Western Asia. In Northern Africa, the countries that have taken such measures are Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.” the report said.

“The tracker records 38 measures taken by Egypt in response to COVID-19. Of these measures, 21 have been coded as gender-sensitive. This includes seven measures targeting women’s economic security, three measures addressing unpaid care work, and 11 measures responding to violence against women,” the report continued.

 

“To support women’s economic security during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) is planning to add 60,000 families to Takaful and Karama cash transfer programmes, increasing its budget from EGP 18.5 billion to EGP 19.3 billion (USD 1.75 billion to 1.22 billion) and reaching a total of 3.6 million households by 2021 (including around 16 million beneficiaries). These programmes mainly target women heads-of-households.

 

“Some 200,000 households (approximately 1 million beneficiaries) will receive a cash payment of EGP 450–500 (USD 28.5–32) for three months in addition to potential in-kind benefits, with priority given to older persons, orphans, persons with disabilities and femaleheaded households. In-kind support in the form of food and pourtly is being targeted towards widows, female heads-of- households, the elderly and people with disabilities, provided by the Tahya Masr Fund in collaboration with MoSS and the Ministry of Local Development.”

“Women (NCW) has connected with women from different governorates to produce masks that can be sold to the public,” it reads.

“Only two countries in the region (Egypt and Palestine) have taken measures to improve the collection and use of violence against women data in the COVID-19 context,” the report says.

“In Egypt, the Ministry of Social Solidarity is planning to add 60,000 families to the Takaful and Karama cash-transfer programmes, with another 100,000 households to be added in the budget for the 2021 fiscal year. Among others, the programmes mainly target women heads-of-households (see In Focus section below),” the report continued.