Eight female ministers hold seats in Egypt’s cabinet for the first time

For the first time in Egyptian history, one quarter of the new cabinet is formed of female ministers, following the appointment of two new female ministers Thursday.

The two new female ministers are Hala Zayed who will head the Ministry of Health, and Yasmine Fouad who will head the Ministry of environment, in addition to the existing six female ministers in the outgoing Cabinet.

Egypt’s National Council for Woman headed by Dr. Maya Mursi expressed her excitement and pride in the formation of the new government, which delighted the Egyptian women, with the increase of female ministers.

who are these eight female ministers?

Hala Hilmi al-Saeed heads the Ministry of Planning, Follow up and Administrative Reform. She is a former dean in the faculty of economy and political sciences in Cairo University, born in the Egyptian capital in 1957.

Al-Saeed is one of the female faces in the banking sector, where she led the Egyptian Banking Institute, which is the training arm of the Central Bank of Egypt for 8 years during which the Institute obtained international accreditation.

Nabila Makram Abdul Shahid Wasif heads the Ministry of Immigration. Her name was a surprise for many as she is a young diplomat born in 1969 with a BA in political sciences from Cairo University and worked in Egypt’s Foreign Ministry in 1993 to be appointed later in different diplomatic posts, the most recent as the General Consulate of Egypt in its consulate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2013.

Sahar Nasr heads the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation. She headed important posts during her spinning career, the most recent as Senior Finance Economist and Regional Director for World Bank Middle East and North Africa Programs. She holds a PhD. In economy from Cairo University.

Ghada Wali remains as minister of Social Solidarity, carries a Master degree in Literature and Humanitarian Studies from Colorado State University in the United States in 1990.

She held several positions, including the UNDP Resident Representative in Cairo since 2004 to date. She also served as the Director of CARE International's program in Egypt from 2001 to 2004. She also served as Senior Officer and Leader of the Microfinance Team in the Community Development Program, Social Development Grant. She is also a member of the INJAZ NGO Board.

Inas Abdel-Dayem remains as the minister of culture. She is a famous musician in Egypt, playing many instruments especially the Flute.

The new minister was born in 1960 and began studying at the Conservatory Institute in Cairo. She traveled to France to earn a Masters and then a PhD from Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

She was appointed director of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in 2003, and in the following year she became the president of the Conservatory Institute. Abdel-Dayem held many positions as a member of the Supreme Council of Culture and the presidency of the Egyptian Opera House, before her career and history culminated in the high ministerial post.

Hala Zayed born in 1967 and is the second female minister in the history of Health Ministry since its establishment in 1937. Zayed was the president of the 57357 Academy of Health Sciences, the chairwoman of the Supreme Committee for Combating Corruption at the Ministry of Health and an advisor to the minister of health and population.

Yasmeen Fouad is the third female minister to head the Ministry of Environments. She has been the assistant environment minister for foreign affairs for the past four years. She’s also an assistant professor in the faculty of economics and political science in Cairo University.

Fouad has represented Egypt many times in several international and continental conferences regarding the Green Climate Fund and climate change.

Rania al-Mashat heads the Ministry of Tourism, She was the “Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Monetary Policy of the Central Bank of Egypt” and played an important role in the framework of modernizing the monetary policy of Egypt through analysis of monetary policy and evaluation and modeling.

She received her Masters and PhD degrees in Economics from the University of Maryland, and was Deputy Project Director at the Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector at the University of Maryland.