The 2016 Women’s Status Report

The Egyptian Woman … Important Steps & Big Challenges

In spite of the progress in the status of Egyptian women achieved over the year 2016, according to the Gender Gap Report, Egyptian women still struggle in various other aspects, the most notable of which is gender-based violence.With this regard, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) in its annual report sheds the light on the developments in the status of Egyptian women in a number of areas over the year 2016. The report is divided to 4 main sections tackling women’s status in various public domains. These sections are as the following:

Firstly: Civil and Political Rights

On the level of political empowerment, the women status has improved, moving from the 136^th place to the 115^th place, out of 144 countries. This improvement is primarily due to the parliamentary elections that resulted in 89 female MP, 75 of whom are elected and 14 are appointed, constituting 14.7%.

This section touched upon the involvement of Egyptian women in 5 spheres; the cabinet, Radio & Television Union, the parliament, and finally the status of women with regards to freedoms and rights.

Secondly: Economic and Social Rights

The year 2016 has witnessed an improvement in the status of women with regards to economic participation, according to the Gender Gap Report, moving from the 135^th place to 132^nd place out of 144 countries.

This section examines the most important developments in the status of women in 4 main areas which are labor market, justice, education, sports, and TV drama.

Thirdly: Violence Against Women

Egypt women are still experiencing violence as the “Economic Opportunity for Gender-based Violence” study conducted by the CAPMAS has revealed that 30.4% of Egyptian women have experienced violence, either by the husband, fiancé, a family member, or in public spaces.

This section tackles violence against women; specifically addressing sexual harassment, domestic violence, and FGM. This comes in addition to the related laws, and theefforts exerted to tackle this phenomenon.

Fourthly and lastly: Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) efforts

This section discusses ECWR efforts throughout the year in its framework of protecting women’s rights and promoting women’s empowerment. This includes activities and partnerships serving the purpose of capacity-building, legislation amendments, awareness-raising, and provision of services to survivors of violence.

Some of these efforts are;