PeaceWomen Consolidated Themes:
Will the lot of Egypt's women improve after the country's revolution?
The position of women in the Arab world has long been difficult. In 2002 the first Arab Human Development Report cited the lack of women's rights as one of three factors, along with lack of political freedoms and poor education, that most hampered the region's progress. In Egypt, the Arab world's powerhouse, women may work outside the home, go to school and university, and are free to vote and run in all elections. But in education and the labour market, women still lag behind. On paper, women are four times more likely to be unemployed than men. But the reality is far more difficult to measure. Most women work in the home, taking care of children and elderly family members, often alongside some kind of informal work.
