Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating Perceptions On Gender Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace: A Case Study On The Banking Sector In Egypt, Lidia Melek

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims at providing an understanding of the perceptions of middle and senior managers on gender diversity and inclusion in the sector, and more importantly the factors leading to those perceptions. The main research question is: What are the perceptions of middle and senior level banking sector employees on gender diversity and inclusion in the sector? The researcher used a qualitative approach. A total of 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted, 10 interviews with middle and senior managers in the banking sector and 3 interviews with HR managers or directors in the sector. The analysis demonstrates organizational culture as a …

Shattering The Second Glass Ceiling: An Empirical Study On Women Entrepreneurs In Egypt, Sarah El-Fiky

Faculty Journal Articles

The purpose of this paper is to analyze women's entrepreneurship in Egypt by examining their drivers, motives and challenges while applying a gender-lens perspective. This research tries to close the gaps in previous research and determine the impact of systematic gendered policies in empowering women's entrepreneurship and in return, aid in the overall economic growth and development nation-wide. This paper addresses one main question: How can the Egyptian government empower women entrepreneurs through key policy interventions?

The Family Values: Is It Really About The Family? Analyzing The Family In The Egyptian Discourse Through A Sociological Lens, Taher Sabala

Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian state has put on its shoulders the responsibility of protecting the family and its values. But how this family, in a massive society like Egypt, can be defined? In this paper, I argue that it has never been about protecting the family. However, it is an attempt to shape the citizens into small separate hives which give the State the power to gain access to the intimate details of its citizens’ lives through which they can be easily monitored, managed, and controlled. By analyzing Michel Foucault’s work on government, power, sexuality, and family, I travel through a historical …

The Role Of Village Savings And Loan Associations In Poverty Graduation Programs: A Process Analysis, Noha Abdel Hamid

Theses and Dissertations

Ten percent of the global population live in extreme poverty under $1.90 a day. To combat chronic multidimensional poverty, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)created the Graduation Approach, which consists of a Big Push effect implemented through a series of interventions including asset transfer, mentoring, saving groups and a series of service provisions, to push ultra-poor households to exit poverty sustainably. Implemented so far in over 50 countries, the model has shown positive results even after ten years of the first interventions. Sawiris Foundation for Social Development partnered with BRAC and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Laboratory (J-PAL) to …

One Space Can Put Her In A Different Place - How Do We Inhabit Spaces Differently?, Farida Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

In Egypt, a male-dominated society, women are forced to constantly negotiate with patriarchal systems. Dichotomies and paradoxes between principles governing different gendered roles, religion and cultural codes and westernization and commercialization have been continuously shaping Egyptian women’s status over the past decades. This is exhibited in public spaces, where women’s current preferences, perceptions and behavior emphasize the dominance of one gender over the other. This research aims for a better understanding of space inhabitance through a gendered lens. It questions the roles the society and the urban spaces play in the daily lives of women through examining women’s perception of …

Women Economic And Social Empowerment In Urban Middle Class Egyptian Households Post 2016 Austerity Measures, Maha El-Kady

Theses and Dissertations

Women empowerment has for long been part of all development agendas as part of the developing economies' social and economic reform plans. However, statistics do not usually reflect much improvement in the status of women’s empowerment, especially under austerity. And while most research focuses on the agony and vulnerability of poorer women, a big gap emerges with regard to middle classes women, who try hard to maintain the status of their households and not fall into poverty.

This research attempts to cover part of this gap by investigating the social and economic empowerment of urban middle classes Egyptian women post-2016 …

Flexible Working Practices For Educated Egyptian Women In The Digital Era: A Study On Telework During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Its Potential To Reduce Gender Gap, Sarah Sherif El Ashry

Theses and Dissertations

Telework has recently gained popularity around the world, a trend that saw significant growth with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Egypt is one of the many countries that adopted this new approach in an attempt to facilitate social distancing policies. This allowed more working mothers in Egypt to experience telework practices for the first time and be able to report their experience. These circumstances have presented a great opportunity to test its simultaneous application across different sectors throughout Egypt. Therefore, it is important to reflect on the adoption of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine …

The Impact Of Global Crises On Women: The Case Of Covid-19 In Egypt, Nour A. Dokhan

Theses and Dissertations

Any global crisis is expected to affect every human being, but for women it is always twice as hard. In the case of Covid-19, women are more affected across every domain, from social protection to health, simply because if their gender. This research explores the impact of Covid-19 on women, both economically and socially, with the focus on the case of Egypt. It explores the systematic gender inequalities in the economic, social, and health spheres using cases from previous crises, and how this gender inequality and vulnerability has resulted in much worse consequences of Covid-19 than that of men. The …

The Challenges Of Transport And Egyptian Women’S Participation In The Job Market, Radwa Abo Shady

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to explore the effect of transportation on development in general and as a barrier to women’s contribution to the labor market in particular. A survey using a mixed method was filled online by working women in Egypt about their trip and perception about the transport problems. A framework was created to describe the relationship between different factors affecting women’s options. The findings suggested that transport parameters have an impact on the freedom of transport and eventually the final decision to join the labor market. The findings match the literature that transport should be gender-sensitive to empower women …

The Conceptualization Of Women’S Empowerment By Microlenders In Egypt And Its Link To Sustainable Development, Yasmina Abdellatif

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how microlenders in Egypt conceptualize women’s empowerment and how they see it contributing to achievement of the UN sustainable development goals. Ten Egyptian microlenders were interviewed to understand how they defined and assessed empowerment, the strategies they used to support empowerment, and which sustainable development goals they felt their programs were addressing. Results revealed that, overall, microlenders sought to empower women in economic, social, psychological, and familial ways, and that they used indicators to measure empowerment under each area. They also supported empowerment through mentoring, training and follow-up with their beneficiaries, and by working to include men. …

Gendered Entrepreneurship Contextualization In Egypt: An Empirical Study On Policies For Women Entrepreneurship Empowerment, Sarah El-Fiky

Theses and Dissertations

The proportion of women entrepreneurs has increased dramatically over the past decade, not just in the developed world but also in developing countries. This led to a significant increase in the governments’ attention towards designing and implementing female-focused policies to allocate adequate resources for empowering women entrepreneurs in Egypt. This paper examines one main question: How does the Egyptian government empower women entrepreneurs through key policy interventions? This is only possible through testing the proposed research hypotheses and investigating Egypt’s publicized policies and governmental interventions. Based on a gender-lens perspective, this research tries to close the gaps in previous research …

African Refugee Women In Egypt: Lacunae In International Refugee Law And The Erasure Of Disadvantaged Groups, Wigdan Mohamad

Theses and Dissertations

Migration is not a recent phenomenon. From the first humans, to people all around the globe today, leave their homes in search of a better life. Since February 2020, Egypt, an attractive destination due to its strategic geolocation, homes the “fifth largest urban refugee population in the world ”. Persecution, political instability, climate degradation, protracted conflicts, unrest, and new wars throughout Africa and Middle Eastern region has caused a dramatic rise of refugees, many of whom make their way to Egypt with the hopes of finding refuge. Egypt hosts a diverse community of refugees, asylum-seekers, and failed asylum-seekers from 58 …

Impact Of Gender, Socioeconomic Class And Product Involvement On The Portrayal Of Women In Egyptian Tv Commercials, Alia El-Mohandes

Theses and Dissertations

The study aims to analyze the relationship between the target audience gender, the socioeconomic classes, and the level of product/service involvement in the ad with the portrayal of women in Egyptian TV commercials during Ramadan 2019 from a professional perspective. Furthermore, it is essential to see if TV commercials portray women in a way that reflects the reality or challenge it in the Egyptian society. This research is both qualitative and quantitative study as it mainly depends on three methods, which are content analysis, focus groups, and In-depth interviews. The study used a census of all the ads aired on …

Women In Post Revolutionary Egyptian Cinema: Female Centered Film Plots (2011-2018), May M.Kamal

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the portrayal of women in post revolutionary Egyptian female centered film plots. Following the increase in the social status of women in Egypt as evidenced in the number of women involved in the governmental decision making positions such as the higher participation of women in the Parliament and at ministerial levels. This study explores the representation of women in contemporary Egyptian film. From the literature review, prominent features of female character existing within patriarchal film culture were identified. These characteristics of male dominated female representation include but are not limited to, the representation of women as social …

Leadership, Gender And The Arab Media: A Perception Study Of Female Journalists In Egypt, Charles Wharton Kaye-Essien, Mai Ismail

Faculty Journal Articles

This article examines the factors contributing to the under-representation of women leaders in the Egyptian media. Whilst a plethora of research exist on women in the Arab media in general, very few have so far examined the extent of women’s representation in top media management positions particularly in Egypt. Based on empirical insights from 40 key informant interviews, this article finds that in their quest to become top media managers, Egyptian women journalists encounter a two-dimensional uphill battle—institutional and social discrimination. Institutional discrimination is evident in the absence of a legal and organizational environment to encourage women leadership. This includes …

Moral And Cultural Discourses Surrounding Women Athletes In Egypt, Yasmeen El-Ghazaly

Theses and Dissertations

Choosing my thesis topic and title was both no easy task; yet came naturally to me. My thesis titled, “Moral and cultural discourses surrounding women athletes in Egypt” discusses the effects of social spaces, notions of femininities, masculinities, and gendered power relations, social and cultural stigmas surrounding Egyptian women athletes through exploring the daily challenges of a selection of amateur and professional women athletes residing in Egypt as they embark on changing the various social stigmas, stereotypes and limitations facing them in the everydayness of their lives in Egypt as athletic women. The thesis argues that the interplay of the …

Becoming Women: Gender And Religion/Culture In Novels By Nawal El Saadawi And Gabriel García Márquez, Sherin Hany Abd Rabouh

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines male characters' subjugation of women through religious discourse as a validating institution. Two third world writers' works, Nawal El Saadawi's The Fall of the Imam and Gabriel García Márquez Chronicle of a Death Foretold, explore this subjugation through the social construction of religion, resulting in the preservation of "discourses" such as religion over the years. I use Simone de Beauvoir and Edward Said's theories in my study of how women came to be identified with inferiority while men came to be identified with superiority. Beauvoir's theory addresses women and men directly, focusing on how societies shape women, …

Echoing The Passive Voice: Women In The Informal Small Business Sector: Challenges And Solutions / التحديات التي تواجهها المرأة في القطاع غير الرسمي للمشروعات الصغيرة, Radwa Samy Abo Shady

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This paper, first, examines the concept and the environment of the ‘informal sector’ and the formal regulatory environment of Egypt, and statistics. Second, it highlights the causes of the expansion of the informal sector in Egypt regarding women’s participation and their status in the sector, which are both tackled in regard to the workplace, wages, working hours and labor rights, such as social insurance. It then concludes with suggesting suitable regulatory policy to formalize the informal economy in Egypt and encourage female workers, as well as employers, to work formally.

Women, Pharaonic Egypt, Lisa Sabbahy Dr.

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Generational Dynamics: Eritrean Women In Egypt, Naseem Hashim

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the experience of Eritrean women in Egypt across different generations. The purpose of the study is to explore the connection between class, choice and rights in shaping the experiences of three different generations of Eritrean women living in Egypt. This research investigates the experiences of three different groups from Eritrean women in Egypt. The first group is the first generation of Eritrean women who were displaced more than thirty years ago as result of the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1961. The second group is the second generation of Eritrean women who grew up and lived …

Gender Differences In Reasons For Alcohol And Drug Abuse Among Youth In Kenya: Programs For Prevention, Faith Wanjiru Kimunya

Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research on alcohol and drug abuse prevention examines general risk and protective factors without considering gender and is conducted primarily in Western cultural contexts. However, gender and culture are important to consider in the design and implementation of alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs because both gender and culture can play a role in the development of risk and protective factors. In order to assess the role that gender and culture might play in alcohol and drug abuse, a literature review was conducted. The literature review focused on the gender differences in reasons for alcohol and drug …

The Role Of Egyptian Women In The 25th Of January Revolution 2011, Dina Shaaban

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

(No abstract provided)

Social Media And Politics: Amplification In Arab World (Case Study Of Egyptian Revolution), Yousra Allam

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

(No abstract provided)

The Problematic Of Generating Anthropological Knowledge: A Case Study Of A Health And Gender Development Project In Rural Egypt, Tonje Holm

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how boarder guards limits the amount of knowledge an anthropologist really can obtain doing research. The research is based upon a concrete case study in Egypt where local and national government bodies "border guard" how knowledge is gained within a development project. This research shows how although anthropological knowledge and research provide a body of theory within which policy is created the policy should come with a "health warning". Field research undoubtedly give more information than so called "armchair" research, but it is far from giving the policy makers the full picture of the society, or project …

Poverty, Gender, And Religion: A Reflection On The Status Of Coptic Women In Poor Areas, Ereeny Talaat Zaki

Archived Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to explore the reasons behind the oppression of poor Coptic women. It examines the factors that position Coptic women in inferior status. It analyzes these factors at the intersections of lack of resources, poverty consequences, and gender inequalities that shape life experiences of this segment of the Egyptian society. Central to my argument is the influence of religion on the lives of those women. In the light of fieldwork conducted in the poor area of El Salaam city, the main finding is that religion affiliation, especially if this religion is adopted by a minority …

Image Of Women As Portrayed In The Egyptian Media, Rasha Nabil Allam

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the image of women as portrayed in the newly independent two Egyptian newspapers, Nahdet Misr or (Egyptian Renissance ), and Al-Masry Al-Youm or (The New Egyptian). The study aims to identify to what extent these two newspapers promote a developmental image about women's roles in society. It is very significant to examine the phenomena of individual newspapers as a new press in addition to the governmental and party press. This is considered a pioneer research for addressing the issue of women in the independent media.

The Mass Media reflects the society it exists in. The mass media …

Gender, Forced Migration And Paid Domestic Work: Case Studies On Refugee Women Domestic Workers In Cairo, Amira Abderahman Ahmed

Archived Theses and Dissertations

The main aim of this thesis is to be able to fill a research gap with regard to women and their survival strategies with emphasis on refugee women, mostly from the Hom of Africa, who have fled to Cairo during the 1990s. The presence of refugee women in the domestic labor sector in Egypt is a relatively recent phenomenon. Cairo, as a large urban setting in the developing world, provides an interesting site where all of these distinct actors play the same role and share at least two structural factors: being migrant women and domestics. The basic argument of this …

Disability, Gender And Marriage, Heba Hagrass

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Reconceptualizing Research And Policy: International Gender Discourses: Private Comparative Research Agendas And Methodologies- The Middle East And The United States, Sondra Hale

Faculty Book Chapters

The proceedings of the Arab Regional Women’s Studies Workshop held at the American University in Cairo in May 1997. Among the theoretical and practical issues discussed are: the importance of introducing gender studies in order to achieve social equality in the Arab World, rethinking political and research priorities in order to give more attention to gender issues, and comparing gender programs in some Arab countries.

Keynote Address: Feminist Studies : Relevance For Scholarship And Social Equity In Arab Societies, Soheir A. Morsy

Faculty Book Chapters

The proceedings of the Arab Regional Women’s Studies Workshop held at the American University in Cairo in May 1997. Among the theoretical and practical issues discussed are: the importance of introducing gender studies in order to achieve social equality in the Arab World, rethinking political and research priorities in order to give more attention to gender issues, and comparing gender programs in some Arab countries.