Women and minorities are underrepresented in government and politics. The Constitution reserves 10 Assembly seats for presidential appointees, which the President traditionally has used to assure representation for women and Coptic Christians. The ruling NDP nominated no Coptic candidates in the 1995 parliamentary elections. Two women and 2 Copts serve among the 32 ministers in the Cabinet. Women have employment opportunities in government, medicine, law, academia, the arts, and, to a lesser degree, business.
Labor laws provide for equal rates of pay for equal work for men and women in the public sector.
According to government figures, women constitute 17 percent of private business owners and occupy 25 percent of the managerial positions in the four major national banks. Social pressure against women pursuing a career is strong, and some women's rights advocates say that a resurgent Islamic fundamentalist trend limits further gains. Women's rights advocates also point to other discriminatory traditional or cultural attitudes and practices such as female genital mutilation and the traditional male relative's role in enforcing chastity and chaste sexual conduct. The Government remains committed to eradicating the practice of female genital mutilation, which is widely condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health. Despite strong government and community efforts to eradicate FGM, government and private sources agree that it is common.