National Council for Women chair details accomplishments, targets

CAIRO - 30 March 2019: Chairperson of the National Council for Women (NCW) Maya Morsy presented the accomplishments achieved in the realm of women’s empowerment in her speech at the Egyptian Women Day ceremony held on Saturday.

Women’s Political Empowerment and Strengthening Her Role in Leading Positions

There are more than three million women who graduated from different programs designed for those purposes. A program called “Women who Lead the Future” is held in collaboration with the Banking Institute affiliated with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and Amwal al-Ghad newspaper. A master’s degree in the sociology of gender is offered by Cairo University in partnership with the Ministry of Planning, Follow-Up, and Administrative Reform and the United Nations.

Several campaigns took place to raise awareness among women on the importance of their political participation. One is called “Your vote is For Egypt’s Future.” It took place in three governorates and reached three million women.

In 2030 strategy, there is a target to enhance women’s political participation and involvement in the decision-making processes on all scales by 35 percent. “We conducted a study on the representation of women in parliament in comparison to other countries. Although, it reached 15 percent, we still rank 135 globally,” Morsy stated clarifying that if the representation of women in parliament rises to 25 percent while the parliamentary representation of women in other countries remains constant, Egypt will jump to the 68th rank globally, 15th among African states, and fourth among Arab states as it now ranks 12th in the Arab World.”

For political empowerment, Egypt ranks 122nd on a global scale but can be the 91st if the percentage of women’s representation in parliament rises to 25 percent. If that is achieved and simultaneously the percentage of female ministers remains 25 percent, Egypt can jump to the 67th rank.

Economic Empowerment

“We aim at upgrading the qualifications of women to boost their participation in the labor force through education, training, marketing services, financial inclusion programs... We reached 126,000 women so far,” Morsy announced

“We appreciate our partnership with CBE which is still the first of its kind worldwide. We had a target to increase women’s bank accounts by 9-18 percent by 2030. Findex showed that 27 percent of bank accounts in Egypt belong to women. We have 800 female leaders who promote financial inclusion in governorates...The NCW opened its branches for national banks to promote their products among women,” Morsy said.

NCW Role in the Social Realm

“We have around five million beneficiaries of different programs including one that aims at combating breast cancer. Another is designed to serve people who are about to get married. That is in addition to camps for families targeting to eliminate wrong customs and traditions,” Morsy stated.

“Together” is the first social program in Egypt encompassing female preachers affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments, nuns, and female Christian servants to hold a dialogue on tolerance, and emphasize proximity and similarities in the values of both religions.

“When terrorism hits us, we get stronger not weaker. The Egyptian woman is a peacemaker in the face of extremism and terrorism,” Morsy asserted greeting Egyptian female preachers, nuns, and female Christian servants.

Violence Against Women Combat

18 units at universities for women to report relevant incidents

NCW receives complaints from all over the country

Awareness on the dangers of child marriage

Awareness in all venues including metro stations such as the campaign called “No station is the End”

NCW issued a media code to evaluate content pertinent to women. Abou Al Arousa series was the most to adhere to the code.

Drafting legislations and laws that preserve women's rights is a core responsibility of the NCW.

NCW initiated an award called “Stamp of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment” in partnership with the UNDP. The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) is the first in the Arab World to receive the award and the second worldwide.

International Representation of Egyptian Women

For the first time, the Ministry of Local Development has issued the local women network having elected members and connected with the international network. It is presided by Governor Manal Awad of Damietta.

Egypt hosted for the first time the African Ministerial Meeting

Many international entities praised the efforts of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in favor of women, Egypt’s women empowerment agenda, and the number of women in positions pertinent to decision-making processes.

Some of the applause came from the World Bank, the United Nations, and the European Union. Those institutions praised the efforts deployed by President Sisi in the realm of women empowerment, the 2030 National Strategy on Women Empowerment, labelling 2017 the women year, and the continuous support of the political leadership to women rights.

Aspirations

Women enter all types of judiciary and get the representation percentage they deserve

Have one more university president after Hend Hanafy

Promulgation of a law that protects women from all types of violence

Women reach more positions linked to decision-making processes

Egyptian Women Day ceremony kicked off on Saturday and is attended by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi who will honor a number of women and ideal mothers.

The ceremony is organized by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, Ministry of Planning, and the National Council for Women.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, Defense Minister Mohamed Zaki, Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali and Planning Minister Hala el Saaed along with other ministers and senior officials.

Upon their arrival at the venue of the celebration, President Sisi and First Lady Intissar al-Sisi posed for a photo-op with the ministers of social solidarity and planning along with 42 women who will be honored during the celebration.