Half the Country,
But Still Unequal
March
14, 2013 - Mustansir Barma
Many saw hope to advance women’s labor rights in post-revolution Egypt;
however, rather than moving the agenda forward, the transition period has seen
women increasingly pushed out of the labor force.
While the benefits of gender diversity in the workforce are supported by a
wealth of research, women in Egypt
are being marginalized at all its echelons.
Egypt scores
consistently poor on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, with
a 2012 ranking of 126 out of 135 countries. There is a disconnect between
women’s educational attainment and their participation in the labor force; the
female-to-male ratio is basically on par from elementary enrollment through
high school, at 0.97 and 0.96 respectively (with a number closer to 1
indicating greater gender parity).The university enrollment ratio only falls
slightly to 0.91. However, this number tumbles sharply to 0.30 with labor force
participation—compared to a global average of 0.68. While some of this unequal
workforce participation may be attributed to women’s personal choices, many of
them seeking jobs are denied opportunities. At 23 percent, Egypt’s
female unemployment rate is almost twice that of the overall level.
Cultural norms are a reason for the underrepresentation of women in the
workforce. The Egyptian Center
for Women’s Rights notes that the perception of women as fragile, weak under
stress, untrustworthy, and disloyal adds to the isolation of career women. Fear
that they will leave the workforce when starting a family is another factor
that drives workplace discrimination. The fact that the social responsibility
of raising children is generally not shared between the sexes leads to the
exclusion of women from the labor force at an early career stage—giving them
little chance to advance their careers. An ineffective and inequitable
legislative framework is another reason for women’s underrepresentation. While
Egyptian law stipulates that women are to receive 90 days of paid maternity
leave for their first two children, implementation of this law is sporadic at
best. Companies often find ways to avoid promoting women, and some businesses
even advance the argument that the uncertainty associated with hiring women
dampens investment.
A growing body of research—such as a study conducted by the International
Finance Corporation in 2011—shows that gender diversity helps elevate a
company’s brand value and image, increase the satisfaction of both its clients
and staff, and enhance its knowledge base. Some studies have gone beyond the
purely economic contributions of gender diversity in the workforce and look at
working women’s contributions in building better societies. According to a
recent Forbes article, women business owners are more likely to
reinvest profits for the social good in areas such as education,
their families, and their communities.
Sadly, rather than promoting women’s labor rights, Egypt has been heading in
the opposite direction for the last two years, and the increasing occurrence of
sexual harassment and violence after the revolution contributes to this
backtracking. The 2011 International Women’s Day march in Tahrir
Square was marred by incidents of women being
isolated and sexually assaulted. Later, a number of perpetrators admitted to
being paid to carry out these actions—raising concerns of a dark
political play. The United Nations Information Center in Cairo
reports that Cairo is the second
worst in the world in terms of sexual harassment—noting that many cases go
unreported. Furthermore, Egypt’s
new constitution does not have specific mechanisms to protect women. And though
the law of the land ensures equality of women in all areas—including economic
ones—this is only as long as doing so does not violate Islamic jurisprudence.
This caveat could be subject to varying interpretations.
Cairo’s United Nations
Information Center also notes that harassment is "indiscriminate": it
happens to anyone and anywhere, on the streets and in the workplace. In Cairo,
80 percent of women surveyed by the UN reported to have been harassed, some
daily. The socioeconomic impact of this cannot be understated; respondents have
said they felt humiliated and disgusted, and preferred to stay at home and
avoid public places. Many quit their jobs or lost them as a result of taking
too many sick days. The Arab region already ranks second-to-last in terms of
women’s labor force participation; rampant sexual harassment only worsens this
standing.
Any real attempt at promoting women should be grounded in legislation.
Several countries outside the region have experimented with quotas for women; Norway
led the charge in 2003 by imposing quotas for 500 companies to ensure at least
40 percent of the country's boardroom seats were filled by women. In the decade
that followed, Norway has managed to
surpass this level with women comprising 45 percent of boardroom positions
today, compared to 6 percent in 2001 (around where Egypt
is presently). Spain, France,
and Italy
followed with varying targets and milestones, while several other European
countries are also in the midst of passing similar laws. Egypt’s
quota activists are pushing for more modest levels of 20 percent to start with
a phase-in period (as France
has done).
Egypt had
already experimented with quotas in the political sphere, with 10 percent of
parliamentary seats guaranteed for women under the old regime, a portion that
was increased to 12.5 percent in the last Mubarak-era election. But in the
November 2011 parliamentary elections, the quota system was replaced with the
requirement that each political party put at least one woman on their electoral
lists. Given that few parties put women at the top of their lists, women had
slim chances of gaining representation in the first post-revolution parliament.
Compared to the 64 seats for women in the People’s Assembly before the fall of
Mubarak, only eight women won seats in the 508-member People’s Assembly a year
ago. The upcoming second attempt at legislative elections shows no sign that
the electoral procedures will be any different. In addition to inequality in
the legislature, the executive branch is also seeing fewer women; in Prime
Minister Hesham Qandil’s current cabinet, there is only one woman—Mubarak’s had
four.
While many support quotas, some women worry that they will face stigma from
the perception of being promoted as a result of quotas rather than ability.
Nonetheless, starting with this step as a temporary measure will (at the very
least) help level the playing field. In fact, Article 4 of the 1979 UN
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women—which
Egypt is a
signatory of—supports adopting “temporary special measures aimed at
accelerating de facto equality between men and women.”
Other legislation could seek to enforce anti-discrimination laws. While men
and women are equal under the Egyptian constitution, an equal pay act—which
would prohibit discrimination at the entry points into the labor market, in job
titles, in job ranks, and in pay scales—has yet to be passed. Companies should
be obliged to keep better records of the hiring process and be able to
demonstrate the absence of workplace discrimination.
Furthermore, policies to prevent women from prematurely dropping out of the
workforce can include the restructuring of maternity leave. Article 10 of the
constitution grants special care and protection for mothers and allows for
women to balance family and work. The language of this article should be
supplemented by specific legislation in support of working mothers; benefits,
such as quality daycare facilities, should be offered—optimally with companies
providing in-house services—and the law should clamp down on unfair dismissals
because of pregnancy. Additionally, paternity leave should also be introduced
as a means to encourage shared responsibility of early parenthood.
Non-legislative solutions should focus on advocacy and awareness— including
at the grassroots level. Egypt’s
state statistics agency found in 2009 that women were largely unaware of their
constitutional right to gender equality. Rather than using conventional media,
highly popular talk shows could be used as a tool for development by raising
these issues. Additionally, a shift in mindset is needed to alter social views
towards women in the longer term; such a paradigm shift can only be tackled
through a patient, long term campaign to win over all stakeholders—secular as
well as religious—and will have to mobilize the efforts of the government,
media, private sector, NGOs, and international organizations. Last year saw
50-plus women’s rights marches but backsliding in various aspects of women’s
rights in Egypt.