IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/10646.html

The Effect of COVID-19 on the Gender Employment Gap in Egyptian Manufacturing

Author

Listed:
  • El-Haddad, Amirah
  • Ishak, Phoebe W.

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of the gender employment gap post COVID-19 in the Egyptian manufacturing sector, using a unique firm-level data set. The findings show that the COVID-19 shock led to a slight improvement in the gender employment gap, both in absolute and relative terms, driven by a larger reduction in male employment compared to that for female employment. The heterogeneity analysis shows that exporting firms and firms in industrial zones on average increased both types of employment post COVID-19. Two types of firms contributed to a worsening of the gender gap, namely firms that adopted technology and those that provided worker training prior to the pandemic, pushing male employment up while not doing the same for female employment. Additionally, the informal sector contributed to a worsening of the gender gap during the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • El-Haddad, Amirah & Ishak, Phoebe W., 2023. "The Effect of COVID-19 on the Gender Employment Gap in Egyptian Manufacturing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10646, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10646
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099832312142329811/pdf/IDU-8c41f68e-260b-4e7d-804e-092626f792f0.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amirah El-Haddad & May Mokhtar Gadallah, 2021. "The informalization of the Egyptian economy (1998–2012): a driver of growing wage inequality," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 115-144, January.
    2. Titan Alon & Matthias Doepke & Kristina Manysheva & Michèle Tertilt, 2022. "Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 112, pages 272-276, May.
    3. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    4. T. Murat Yildirim & Hande Eslen‐Ziya, 2021. "The differential impact of COVID‐19 on the work conditions of women and men academics during the lockdown," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S1), pages 243-249, January.
    5. Fields, Gary S., 1975. "Rural-urban migration, urban unemployment and underemployment, and job-search activity in LDCs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 165-187, June.
    6. Aysit Tansel & Zeynel Abidin Ozdemir, 2019. "Transitions across labor market states including formal/informal division in Egypt," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 1674-1695, November.
    7. Assaad, Ragui, 1997. "The Effects of Public Sector Hiring and Compensation Policies on the Egyptian Labor Market," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(1), pages 85-118, January.
    8. El-Haddad, Amirah, 2020. "Redefining the social contract in the wake of the Arab Spring: The experiences of Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Alison Andrew & Sarah Cattan & Monica Costa Dias & Christine Farquharson & Lucy Kraftman & Sonya Krutikova & Angus Phimister & Almudena Sevilla, 2022. "The gendered division of paid and domestic work under lockdown," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 325-340, December.
    10. El-Haddad, Amirah, 2008. "Dispute resolution mechanisms in the Egyptian garment industry," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 425-430, June.
    11. Amirah El-Haddad, 2023. "Political Patronage and Economic Opportunity: Vertical Integration in Egyptian Textiles and Clothing," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(5), pages 1224-1257, October.
    12. Assaad, Ragui & Arntz, Melanie, 2005. "Constrained Geographical Mobility and Gendered Labor Market Outcomes Under Structural Adjustment: Evidence from Egypt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 431-454, March.
    13. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias & Robert Joyce & Xiaowei Xu, 2020. "COVID‐19 and Inequalities," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 291-319, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giulia Bettin & Isabella Giorgetti & Stefano Staffolani, 2024. "The impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the gender gap in the Italian labour market," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-33, March.
    2. Alfonsi, Livia & Namubiru, Mary & Spaziani, Sara, 2022. "Gender Gaps: Back and Here to Stay? Evidence from Skilled Ugandan Workers during COVID-19," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt44s4b2dk, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    3. Selwaness, Irene, 2020. "Reforms and Employment in The Egyptian Labor Market: Evolution by Age From 1988 to 2006," GLO Discussion Paper Series 455, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Claudia Hupkau & Barbara Petrongolo, 2020. "Work, Care and Gender during the COVID‐19 Crisis," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 623-651, September.
    5. Livia Alfonsi & Mary Namubiru & Sara Spaziani, 2024. "Gender gaps: back and here to stay? Evidence from skilled Ugandan workers during COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 999-1046, September.
    6. Caroline Krafft, 2020. "Why is fertility on the rise in Egypt? The role of women’s employment opportunities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1173-1218, October.
    7. Ana Tribin & Karen García-Rojas & Paula Herrera-Idarraga & Leonardo Fabio Morales & Natalia Ramirez-Bustamante, 2023. "Shecession: The Downfall of Colombian Women During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 158-193, October.
    8. Oana Calavrezo & Lewis Hounkpevi & Florence Journeau & Yoann Robin, 2020. "L’utilisation de l’activité partielle en France pendant la crise de la Covid-19 : Une analyse empirique sous l’angle du genre," Post-Print hal-03676166, HAL.
    9. Maye Ehab & Caroline Krafft, 2023. "Working Conditions in the Paid Care Economy in Egypt: Improvement or Deterioration?," Working Papers 1657, Economic Research Forum, revised 20 Nov 2023.
    10. Alison Andrew & Sarah Cattan & Monica Costa Dias & Christine Farquharson & Lucy Kraftman & Sonya Krutikova & Angus Phimister & Almudena Sevilla, 2022. "The gendered division of paid and domestic work under lockdown," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 325-340, December.
    11. Tőkés, László, 2025. "Javítja-e a női munkavállalók válság állóságát a női döntéshozók jelenléte?. Nemi homofília és a she-cession jelenség [Does the presence of female decision-makers improve the crisis resilience of female employees?. Gender homophily during she-cess," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 141-157.
    12. Leonardo Fabio Morales & Leonardo Bonilla‐Mejía & Jose Pulido & Luz A. Flórez & Didier Hermida & Karen L. Pulido‐Mahecha & Francisco Lasso‐Valderrama, 2022. "Effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the Colombian labour market: Disentangling the effect of sector‐specific mobility restrictions," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 308-357, February.
    13. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Colette Salemi, 2023. "Socioeconomic Status and the Changing Nature of School-to-Work Transitions in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(4), pages 697-723, August.
    14. Elisa Brini & Stefani Scherer & Agnese Vitali, 2024. "Gender and Beyond: Employment Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(3), pages 1-23, June.
    15. Katja Möhring & Andreas P. Weiland & Maximiliane Reifenscheid & Michaela Dreier & Patricia Steins, 2025. "Inequality in Employment Trajectories and their Consequences for Perceived Employment Insecurity and Work Satisfaction During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 243-267, October.
    16. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2020. "Public-private sector wage gap by gender in Egypt: Evidence from quantile regression on panel data, 1998–2018," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    17. Shahen, Mostafa E. & Kotani, Koji & Kakinaka, Makoto & Managi, Shunsuke, 2020. "Wage and labor mobility between public, formal private and informal private sectors in a developing country," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 101-113.
    18. Nicholas Barton & Tessa Bold & Justin Sandefur, 2017. "Measuring Rents from Public Employment: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Kenya - Working Paper 457," Working Papers 457, Center for Global Development.
    19. Corinne Dubois & Luisa Lambertini & Yu Wu, 2022. "Gender effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Swiss labor market," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 158(1), pages 1-29, December.
    20. Philippe Adair, 2021. "The informal economy and gender inequalities in North Africa," Erudite Working Paper 2021-07, Erudite.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10646. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.