CAIRO — On the occasion of the World Day for Decent Work on Oct. 7, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics issued a media statement exposing the working conditions and general situation in Egypt based on a study it conducted of the labor force in 2014. The data revealed that the participation of men is three times higher than that of women in the workforce.

Egyptian women face a number of problems that limit their ability to work. Rawateb.org has identified four factors behind these obstacles: balancing career and family, a reluctance to hire women who have children, gender discrimination and harassment.

Mona Ezzat, the director of the Women and Work Program at the New Woman Foundation, told Al-Monitor, “Women should have an adequate representation at the Supreme Council for Wages, which should be given the power to handle complaints from women workers in case they were subjected to any form of discrimination.”

Ezzat confirmed that there is a gender wage gap and attributed it to a lack of adequate measures designed to achieve equal working opportunities such as the provision of nurseries and safe transportation. These factors, she said, make it difficult for women to work during specific hours, push them to work extra hours and prevent them from going to work in locations that are far from their places of residence. All this obstructs their promotion and training.