Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024

The purpose of this thesis is to explain why female labor force participation deteriorated in quantity and in quality despite the recent rise in female educational attainment levels over the past three decades (1990 – 2024). On the one hand, labor participation declined, whereas on the other hand, f...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gamal Nour El Din, Mennan
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2025
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613424104505344
access_status_str Open Access
author Gamal Nour El Din, Mennan
author_browse Gamal Nour El Din, Mennan
author_facet Gamal Nour El Din, Mennan
author_sort Gamal Nour El Din, Mennan
collection Thesis
description The purpose of this thesis is to explain why female labor force participation deteriorated in quantity and in quality despite the recent rise in female educational attainment levels over the past three decades (1990 – 2024). On the one hand, labor participation declined, whereas on the other hand, female informal employment remains high in Egypt. This thesis dissertation utilizes a qualitative research methodology through both secondary data in the form of descriptive statistics on the phenomenon of female labor force participation as well as primary data in the form of six in-depth expert interviews with experts in the fields of gender, political economy, labor economics, public and social policy, development, and impact-assessment. The review of the literature addresses the main factors affecting the phenomenon of female labor force participation and the high presence of women in informal employment, identifying education as one of the most significantly positive factors affecting FLFP. This thesis contributes to the literature by expanding on the literature pertaining to the role played by labor regulating institutions and their policies on female formal labor force participation and subsequently female informal employment, through a gendered lens. This thesis argues that this phenomenon of low female labor force participation and high female presence in informality can be linked to Egypt’s educational institutional gender neutrality & non-gender inclusive higher and technical & vocational educational (TVET) policies, resulting in the prevalence of the “education-occupation mismatch” as well as the gendered ICT skills disparity — especially regarding gender integration, leading to a failure in the translation of increased female education into meaningful integration in the job market. In an effort to contribute to enhancing the Egyptian labor market for females, this thesis dissertation sheds light on the significance of setting forth gender-preferential regulatory frameworks and policies by labor-regulating state institutions – allowing for the translation of high female educational attainment levels to higher female formal labor force participation rates and lower female informal employment in vulnerable and precarious conditions.
format Thesis
id oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3404
institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:55.364Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher AUC Knowledge Fountain
publisherStr AUC Knowledge Fountain
record_format dspace
source_str AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3404 The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024 Gamal Nour El Din, Mennan The purpose of this thesis is to explain why female labor force participation deteriorated in quantity and in quality despite the recent rise in female educational attainment levels over the past three decades (1990 – 2024). On the one hand, labor participation declined, whereas on the other hand, female informal employment remains high in Egypt. This thesis dissertation utilizes a qualitative research methodology through both secondary data in the form of descriptive statistics on the phenomenon of female labor force participation as well as primary data in the form of six in-depth expert interviews with experts in the fields of gender, political economy, labor economics, public and social policy, development, and impact-assessment. The review of the literature addresses the main factors affecting the phenomenon of female labor force participation and the high presence of women in informal employment, identifying education as one of the most significantly positive factors affecting FLFP. This thesis contributes to the literature by expanding on the literature pertaining to the role played by labor regulating institutions and their policies on female formal labor force participation and subsequently female informal employment, through a gendered lens. This thesis argues that this phenomenon of low female labor force participation and high female presence in informality can be linked to Egypt’s educational institutional gender neutrality & non-gender inclusive higher and technical & vocational educational (TVET) policies, resulting in the prevalence of the “education-occupation mismatch” as well as the gendered ICT skills disparity — especially regarding gender integration, leading to a failure in the translation of increased female education into meaningful integration in the job market. In an effort to contribute to enhancing the Egyptian labor market for females, this thesis dissertation sheds light on the significance of setting forth gender-preferential regulatory frameworks and policies by labor-regulating state institutions – allowing for the translation of high female educational attainment levels to higher female formal labor force participation rates and lower female informal employment in vulnerable and precarious conditions. 2025-02-01T08:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2362 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3404/viewcontent/Mennan_Gamal_NourElDin_thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain development gender-female labor force participation informal employment institutions labor economics social policies technical and vocational education training Comparative Politics Education Policy Labor Economics Other Political Science Political Economy Social Policy
spellingShingle development
gender-female labor force participation
informal employment
institutions
labor economics
social policies
technical and vocational education training
Comparative Politics
Education Policy
Labor Economics
Other Political Science
Political Economy
Social Policy
Gamal Nour El Din, Mennan
The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024
title The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024
title_full The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024
title_fullStr The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024
title_full_unstemmed The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024
title_short The Feminization of Deteriorated Labor Force Participation In Egypt: 1990 – 2024
title_sort feminization of deteriorated labor force participation in egypt 1990 2024
topic development
gender-female labor force participation
informal employment
institutions
labor economics
social policies
technical and vocational education training
Comparative Politics
Education Policy
Labor Economics
Other Political Science
Political Economy
Social Policy
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2362
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3404/viewcontent/Mennan_Gamal_NourElDin_thesis.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT gamalnoureldinmennan thefeminizationofdeterioratedlaborforceparticipationinegypt19902024
AT gamalnoureldinmennan feminizationofdeterioratedlaborforceparticipationinegypt19902024