Female participation in workforce remains low despite achievements

Contribution of women aged 15 and above to workforce was just 14.3% compared to 67.4% for men in 2020, says CAPMAS

To mark International Women's Day, Daily News Egypt looked into the achievements of women's empowerment, and the obstacles and areas that still need more work to increase this.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of Egyptians citizens in the country reached 101 million, of which 48.5 million were females.
In terms of women in the decision making positions, eight women were handed ministerial portfolios within the Council of Ministers, accounting for 24% of the number of ministers in government.
The current Parliament includes 14 female members elected through the individual system and 148 women through the list system, representing 27% of the House.
Despite the achievements, women's participation in the workforce is still unfortunately low. According to CAPMAS, in 2020 the contribution of women aged 15 years and over to the workforce was just 14.3% of the total, compared to 67.4% for men.
According to the preliminary data of the Labor Force Survey in 2020, the unemployment rate for females was 17.7%, compared to 6.0% for males.
"The percentage of female workers aged 15 years and over was 11.8% compared to 63.4% for males," the survey's preliminary data showed, "Meanwhile, the percentage of females working in permanent work was 88.0%, compared to 65.0% for males."
CAPMAS mentioned that the percentage of female participants in social insurance reached 71.4%, compared to 40.2% for males. Meanwhile, the percentage of female participants in health insurance reached 69.4%, compared to 34.0% for males.
The agency also revealed that the percentage of women occupying specialist and scientific professions roles stood at 37.5% of total employed. Meanwhile, it said that 33.5% of those in charge of editing/clerical work are women, whilst women account for 25.9% of technicians and assistant technicians.
A total of 18.6% of the workforce in agriculture and fishing are women, who also account for 13.6% of workers in services and shops selling. The lowest percentage for female workers was the 1.5% working in crafts and related categories.
In terms of education, CAPMAS noted that the percentage of females enrolled in higher education was 48.7%, compared to 51.3% for males.
According to the annual bulletin for pre-university education data in the 2019/20 academic year, the total enrolment rates for females in different educational stages were: pre-primary education at 28.9%; preparatory stage at 96.5%; and secondary education at 36.0%. In technical education, women represented 16.9% of commercial education students, 12.3% of industrial education, and 1.2% of agriculture education.
The dropout rate for the 2017/18-2018/19 academic years at the primary stage was 0.2% for females, compared to 0.3% for males for the same school year. It reached 2.6% for females in preparatory stage, compared to 2.8% for males in the same year.