By Salma Naguib ~
From boardroom and courtroom to operating theatre and art gallery, Egypt’s women are not only asserting themselves in public life but are also making it. Breaking the old limits and writing a new script, Egypt’s new generation of women are creating themselves in politics, science, business, and culture and setting the country’s agenda with a more pluralist and richer discourse.
As Egypt transitions to Vision 2030, women are a national and policy pride market. Egyptian women leaders are breaking glass ceilings and forging new paths to development for the ages with strength, resilience, and vision.
Government & Policy: Women in Charge
Egypt currently has a record eight women in the cabinet, some of whom occupy some of its most high-level cabinet positions such as Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El Said, and Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat. The action brings Egypt closer to having equal representation at the highest level of government.
Egypt in 2020 also had a record high of 25% women parliament members, the highest in the region among peers. There is the state’s National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 that guides, in the application of a woman to be part of the public and private sector life in each sector.
“MILLIONS aren’t merely paying back—They’re making national policy for themselves,” said interviewee Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women, as quoted recently.
Science & Technology: Shaping the Future
Egyptian women are breaking history in science and technology. Egyptian Sara Sabry broke Arab history as the first Arab female to be in space on a 2022 Blue Origin flight to be Egypt’s very own astronaut. The flight was suitably covered by NASA and Al Jazeera and was therefore not just record-breaking—it was business as usual for a new generation of empowerment and role models within the sciences, technologies, engineering, and mathematics.
Another rising star is Dr. Ghada Waly. She is the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Her world leadership on the global stage is as good as Egyptian women being ambassadors of Egypt on the global stage.
Business & Entrepreneurship: Fueling Innovation
Egyptian women businesswomen entrepreneurs are also charting new sectors of business. Women start-ups are also surging rapidly, especially in green agriculture, fintech, and fashion, as per the IFC report.
Start-ups such as “Nawah Scientific” by Dalia Saad and “Mother Being,” women’s health website founded by Nadine Wahab, are introducing genuine solutions to domestic issues—and careers and new tales of women businesswomen.
Egyptian women are also providing the financing. Hala El Gohary was selected to be the first woman director of Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and manager of the technology-industry development and incubation start-ups activities in 2021.
Egyptian women are reclaiming their space culturally on the small and big screen, bookshelves, and social media to recount and retell their stories. They are doing so by having filmmakers like Mariam Abou Ouf and actresses like Menna Shalaby become a household name everywhere in the world as films are being shown at international film festivals like Cannes and Berlinale.
Social activists such as Shahira Fahmy are breaking stereotypes surrounding architecture, activism, and art to enlighten more of the masses on social causes and raise awareness on Arab design. Writers such as Mona Eltahawy are even speaking out to mobilize against patriarchal value systems and fight for gender justice in the region.
With the assistance of a UNESCO report, programs like the Women in Creativity Initiative are providing institutional assistance to women artists in a manner that is providing them with money and media that they can use for their empowerment.
Sports & Athletics: Breaking Records
From ring to court, Egyptian women are shattering stereotypes. Egypt’s sweetheart and world number one female squash player Nour El Sherbini dominated the overwhelmingly male sport. This left Forbes stuttering in amazement.
The same, Egypt’s taekwondo superstar Hedaya Malak won a bronze medal in Tokyo 2020 to become Egypt’s double Olympic female medalist.
The Road Ahead
There are barriers—cultural resistance, economic involvement, legal change—but there is movement too. In the aftermath of popular mobilization, civil society, and state policy, Egyptian women are not only poised to join, but to lead the movement.
