WOMEN’S RIGHTS ONLINEREPORT
CARD
EGYPT
Measuring Progress,
Driving Action

INTE’SENACCESS & W
ET OWERM OM
NENR MPTEEGYPTOVERALL SCORE:
SCORE:

30%

SCORE:

Y

6Egypt met the A4AI affordability target in 2014
(1 GB for less than 2% of average monthly income),
but prices crept up relative to incomes in 2015. The
national ICT plan guarantees at least one publicaccess point in 50% of localities, but public Wi-Fi
hotspots aren’t always functional.

DIGITAO R DA BILIT

Only 45% of women compared to 87% of menin urban poor areas in Cairo have accessed theInternet. Only 7% of women have looked forimportant information about their rights or voiced
their opinion online.

SCORE:KILLS & EDU
SCL

ION
ATFAF

3

3

Half of secondary schools in Egypt are connectedto the Internet. However, less than 5% of education
sector workers are trained in the use of web-powered
ICTs to deliver better education services to students.

RELEVAICESRVSCORE:

LINE S AFETYNOCONTENT & SE
TN

1There is no public policy to promote online sexualand reproductive health education. Despite some
civil society initiatives, online information about
reproductive and sexual health is very limited.
Additionally, less than 1% of women have accessto mobile financial services.

SCORE:

1

Women in Egypt experience frequent online
harassment and police and judiciary lack training
on how to respond. As a result many women censor
themselves with measures such as closing down
their online accounts. Egypt currently lacks a dataprotection law.

CLOSING THE GENDER GAP: A 5 POINT ACTION PLAN
1

COLLECT GENDER DISAGGREGATED ICT DATA TO INFORM STRATEGIES. Monitorgender equality in the implementation of ICT strategies by collecting disaggregated ICT data.

2PRIORITISE FREE OR LOW COST PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS. Prioritise free or lowcost public Internet access for school and university students. Continue to create free hotspots in public
libraries, youth centers and clubs.

3

INTEGRATE DIGITAL SKILLS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. Include ICT in thenational primary school curriculum and ensure that teachers are well qualified to teach it.

4

FOCUS ON RELEVANT CONTENT AND SERVICES FOR WOMEN. Design more easily
accessible, relevant and user-friendly information, products and services that help women enhance theirlivelihoods and participate in information seeking and exchange through ICTs.

5END ONLINE HARASSMENT. Launch a campaign against online sexual harassment, including
information on where and how to report digital harassment and violence. Different parties (police, legal systemrepresentatives) should be trained on how to respond to ICT-based harassment and on relevant legislation.

PROJECT OVERVIEWThe United Nations recently
made gender-equitable access toinformation and communications
technologies (ICTs) central to theSustainable Development Goals(SDGs), which set the global
development agenda until 2030.
Why? ICTs are powerful. They can help todeliver improved healthcare, quality education
for all, financial inclusion, more accountable
government, and much more. In adopting theSDGs, all countries have pledged to prioritise
universal Internet access, and to use ICTs toempower women.
But much hard work lies ahead if weare to translate this vision into reality. A
formidable gender gap in Internet access,digital skills and online rights exists - ourWomen’s Rights Online research shows that inmany communities, women are 50% less likely
than men to be online and 30-50% less likely
to use the Internet for economic and politicalempowerment. Women face many barriers including high costs, lack of know-how, and ascarcity of relevant and empowering content as well as social and legal obstacles to speaking
freely and privately online.
The Web Foundation and partners have
prepared these gender audits to help countries
assess what they need to do to overcome
the gender digital divide. Tadwein GenderResearch Centre has taken the lead, inconsultation with other national stakeholders,on identifying concrete steps that government
can take in the next year to address thechallenges and gaps identified. We hope that
this report card and action plan will spark
debate and galvanise policy change.

A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY:
We based our scores on 14 simple indicators for which reliable empirical evidence exists,and grading was done in the second quarter of 2016. See the accompanying overview
for a description of the indicators and sources used. A full methodology is available onour website.

Produced in collaboration with:

Tadwein
GENDER RESEARCH CENTER

With support from: