It is fairly well established that rates of female participation in the labor force in Egypt are low and
have been relatively flat over time. It is also well established that female participation rates are
strongly associated with educational attainment and that they generally rise sharply at or above the
secondary education level. However, despite rapidly rising educational attainment among women
and the closing of the gender gap in education in recent years, participation rates have not
increased as expected (Assaad and Krafft 2015a). The association between educational attainment
and participation is in fact weakening in Egypt, and educated women are increasingly likely to
remain outside the labor force. These trends are fairly and have been discussed at length
elsewhere. The question that this policy brief addresses is why we are observing these seemingly
contradictory trends. Is it because social norms about gender roles are becoming more
conservative and restrictive or is it because of an adverse change in the opportunity structures
facing women in the Egyptian economy? I will argue in this brief that the stagnant participation
trend in spite of rising educational attainment is primarily due to the economic and policy
environment and is therefore amenable to policy action.