Supporting ICT employment opportunities for women in Egypt

Abstract

Supporting ICT employment opportunities for women in Egypt Ragui Assaad and Irene Selwaness examine the increase of women in ICT jobs in Egypt, as well as gender disparities and the efforts to promote ICT employment growth. With the increasing withdrawal of the public sector as a major employer in Egypt, the Egyptian labour market has become increasingly inhospitable for women. Female employment rates declined steadily from 19.5% in 2009 to 13.7% in 2021. Women’s employment has been falling in absolute terms at a rate of 1.1% per year from 2009 to 2021, while the female working-age population has been increasing at 2.5% annually. Information and communication technology (ICT) jobs are a major bright spot in this bleak landscape. According to a recent report on Egypt’s ICT jobs, ICT employment for women has been growing much faster than in other segments of the economy and much faster than for men (Selwaness, Assaad and El Sayed, 2023). The report defines ICT jobs as all jobs in ICT industries and jobs in ICT occupations in non-ICT sectors.