Topic: 2024-Gender Equality in Rural Areas
Country: Egypt
Delegate Name: Ella Woods
Egypt
UN women
Gender Equality in Rural Areas
Egypt believes that women should be granted the same opportunities as men, no matter their economic situation. Rural women face many challenges such as access to education, healthcare and leadership positions. These women often lack basic services, access to the workforce and are confined by traditional gender roles. Because a large percentage of women in Egypt live in rural areas, their empowerment is critical to Egypt’s economic well-being. The solution to all of these problems is improving rural women’s access to the economy by strengthening their access to educational opportunities. In Colombia, financial inclusion for rural women and youth has created a virtual education program to educate rural women on how to manage their finances to combat low levels of financial education for women. El Salvador provides training on gender equality and agriculture to help women create their own home gardens. The success of economic education programs for rural women proves their benefit and demonstrates the importance of implementing them in Egypt.
In Egypt, women make up about 49% of the population but are underrepresented in the economy. This is because rural women are often under-educated in their financial abilities. In 2016, Egypt was ranked 132 out of 144 in women’s economic involvement by the gender gap index. Egypt has tried to combat this by introducing the National Strategy for Women Empowerment, a program that aims to enhance women’s roles in the economy by improving access to financial services and education for rural women. It also produced books and TV programs that advocate for gender equality making the resources easily accessible. The Egyptian Banking Institute is working to create financial literacy programs that specifically target women, raising awareness of banking services for women. Despite these measures, cultural barriers and lack of access to resources persist and prevent women’s full benefit from financial education resources.
Egypt advocates for a UN-sanctioned policy that encourages countries with high percentages of rural women to create and fund programs that help financially educate them. This goal can be achieved by creating financial educational programs for adult women, including financial education in school curriculums, creating financial support networks for rural women that are easy to access, and publishing more accessible information about good spending habits online. Through these measures, it will be ensured that boys and girls are taught financial literacy at a young age, and women who have not been empowered to participate in the economy can easily find resources that help them make good financial decisions. These programs’ overall intention should be to see an increase in women’s involvement in the economy. An example of this outcome is in Nicaragua, where their Microcredit Programme for Rural Entrepreneurs educates and financially supports rural women’s small businesses, creating 104,000 new jobs and supporting 70,000 women.
Egypt is looking forward to collaborating with delegates from UN Women.
Works Cited
United Nations, General Assembly, Improvement of the situation of women and girls in rural areas, July 2023
Egypt, National Council for Women, National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030, March 2013
UN Women and ILO (2023). Consolidated report: National Fiscal Stimulus Packages from a Gender Equality Perspective.
