Egypt’s Cabinet to include 8 female ministers for 1st time

CAIRO – 10 June 2018: Newly-appointed Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly is expected to submit his Cabinet’s formation before the House of the Representatives within a few days, and the initial formation will be disclosed within hours, according to local media news reports.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi appointed Madbouly as Egypt’s 54th premier, which makes him the youngest premier in Egypt's modern history.

The 52-year old Madbouly may enrich his Cabinet with more female ministers. Egypt’s national newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Sunday that the new Cabinet will include eight female ministers; after the nomination of two women to head two ministerial portfolios, along with the six female ministers in the outgoing Cabinet who are highly expected to remain in office.

For the first time in Egypt's history, six female ministers occupied seats in the outgoing Cabinet, formed in January, representing nearly 20 percent of the Cabinet.
The outgoing Cabinet included 34 ministries; six of them are headed by female ministers.

1.Inas Abdel-Dayem heads the Ministry of Culture
2.Rania al-Mashat heads the Ministry of Tourism
3.Ghada Wali heads the Ministry of Social Solidarity
4.Sahar Nasr heads the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation
5.Hala el-Saeed heads the Ministry of Planning
6.Nabila Makram heads the Ministry of Immigration

Moreover, Hala Zayed is a potential candidate to lead the ministry of Health to be the second female minister in the history of the Health Ministry since its establishment in 1937.

Yasmine Fouad is a potential candidate to lead the Ministry of State for Environment Affairs which was founded in 1997. In addition, Nadia Abdo was chosen to be the first woman to assume the post of governor for Beheira governorate in 2017.

Also, the number of parliamentary female members reached 90; 76 of which were elected, and 14 were appointed, marking a ratio of 15 percent of the total number of members. Moreover, the rate of female voters has reached 55 percent.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi announced that Egyptian women have played a vital and significant role to help Egyptian society overcome the current difficult conditions.

The Egyptian leader made his statements during an Iftar banquet held in Ramadan 2017, under his auspices to honor women after he announced 2017 as the “Year of Egyptian Women”.

During his speech, Sisi expressed his deep respect for Egyptian women's resilience.

“The Egyptian woman, unlike women in many countries around the world, and due to the difficult circumstances of Egypt, endures so much. In fact, when we were on the economic reform procedures over the past two years, or longer, I knew that in every house, I, or rather Egypt, had a prop,” Sisi said.

“Indeed, when we were taking these measures, I always said I would address and talk to the Egyptian woman and tell her ‘please help me and help Egypt.’ The path we have started is a cruel and painful path, but I swear, God willing, with what we are doing, we are laying the real foundations for a real state. A real state,” he added.