With its financial inclusion policies, the Egyptian government is targeting women and young people operating small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMEs), motivated by the belief that ensuring access to financial services for poor and marginalized citizens will help provide jobs. To this end, the government is taking several measures to incorporate women and youth in its financial inclusion policies. This paper looks at these measures to determine whether they are sufficient to provide sustainable, decent jobs that can generate enough income to meet the basic needs of the families of these women and young people.&nbsp;
<h3>Barriers to accessing financial services&nbsp;</h3>
The road is not an easy one. Women and young people in villages and poor areas face challenges accessing financial services. An opinion poll conducted by the National Center for Social and Criminological Research (Youssef, 2021) gives us a good window into these challenges. Focusing on the utilization of the financial inclusion system in Egypt, the poll surveyed 2,048 people, asking them why they do not have bank accounts, among other questions. (A total of 43.3% of respondents lived in urban areas and 56.7% in rural areas, while 47.3% were women and 52.7% were men; the geographic location, social status, and educational level of respondents varied.) The following table details their responses.&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 1203px; height: 156.47057723999023px; border-color: #000000; border-style: solid;" border="1">
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<td style="width: 804.753662109375px; height: 22.35293960571289px;">Reason cited</td>
<td style="width: 369.14337158203125px; height: 22.35293960571289px; text-align: center;">%</td>
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<td style="width: 804.753662109375px; height: 22.35293960571289px;">I have no money to put in the bank</td>
<td style="width: 369.14337158203125px; height: 22.35293960571289px; text-align: center;">79.9</td>
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<td style="width: 804.753662109375px; height: 22.35293960571289px;">I don&rsquo;t like dealing with banks</td>
<td style="width: 369.14337158203125px; height: 22.35293960571289px; text-align: center;">14</td>
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<td style="width: 804.753662109375px; height: 22.35293960571289px;">Banking is prohibited by religion</td>
<td style="width: 369.14337158203125px; height: 22.35293960571289px; text-align: center;">6.7</td>
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<td style="width: 804.753662109375px; height: 22.35293960571289px;">I don&rsquo;t have the personal documents needed to open an account</td>
<td style="width: 369.14337158203125px; height: 22.35293960571289px; text-align: center;">5.8</td>
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<tr style="height: 22.35293960571289px;">
<td style="width: 804.753662109375px; height: 22.35293960571289px;">Lack of work</td>
<td style="width: 369.14337158203125px; height: 22.35293960571289px; text-align: center;">3.5</td>
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<td style="width: 804.753662109375px; height: 22.35293960571289px;">I don&rsquo;t know how to deal with banks</td>
<td style="width: 369.14337158203125px; height: 22.35293960571289px; text-align: center;">0.3</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The survey found that 6.7% of respondents refuse to deal with banks because they see them as forbidden by religion, indicating the continued influence of a certain kind of religious discourse, particularly in rural and poor areas. This finding was confirmed in a field study conducted by the New Woman Foundation (al-Antari &amp; Ezzat, 2020), based on 12 interviews with civic associations and 46 in-depth personal interviews with women in five governorates (Fayyoum, Minya, Assyout, Beheira, and Kafr el-Sheikh). The interviewees lived in both rural and urban areas, and the study chose a diverse sample of women in terms of geographic location, social status, age, educational level, and occupation. When asked about banking, some women said that they had heard clerics in their villages saying that dealing with banks is prohibited (haram); the women thus prefer dealing with civic associations to obtain loans.&nbsp;
A total of 79.9% of respondents said that they had no money to put in the bank, clearly pointing to the relationship between poverty and the implementation of financial inclusion policies. These respondents have no desire to go to the bank. Instead, they and their families prefer to set aside cash for emergencies in a safe place at home, join an informal savings coop with trusted family, friends, and neighbors, buy gold and sell it when necessary, or rely on help from relatives when they need it. In addition, banking is not widespread in poor and peripheral areas given the lack of banking services (al-Antari &amp; Ezzat, 2020).&nbsp;&nbsp;
The survey found that 14% of respondents do not know how to deal with banks and 5.8% do not have the documentation necessary to open a bank account, demonstrating that citizens from rural areas and poor villages find the administrative procedures to open a bank account difficult to navigate. All of the aforementioned issues pose challenges to men and women alike, but women face additional cultural and social barriers to banking services. Being subject to patriarchal authority, women&rsquo;s financial resources are controlled by their husband or father. Only 9% of women have bank accounts (National Council for Women, 2017).&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h3>Including women and youth in financial services</h3>
The Central Bank of Egypt&rsquo;s circular of 17 July 2019 on regulations for financial inclusion products and services and the due-diligence procedures for consumers of financial inclusion products and services was issued to support and incentivize the banking sector to develop products and services targeting the largest possible base of citizens, firms, and micro-establishments. The goal is to bring them into the formal banking sector by cementing financial inclusion (Central Bank of Egypt, 2019).&nbsp;&nbsp;
Many banks offer financing programs for SMEs that target women and youth specifically. Funding from these banks varies, with the largest proportion going to already existing businesses rather than new enterprises. This tends not to generate new opportunities for women and youth, even as the state&rsquo;s focus is on increasing access for just these groups. In 2017, it was estimated that 22.5% of SMEs were owned or managed by women. The government is aiming to bump this to 50% by 2030 (National Council for Women, 2017), which requires increasing the number of women-led new businesses.&nbsp;
Although we depend on banks to reach marginalized, needy groups, which are concentrated in poor and peripheral areas, banks are unable to play this role due to a dearth of branch offices and automated teller networks. In addition, financing programs offered by banks like Bank Misr start at EGP5,000, while most financing programs for micro enterprises offered by other banks top out at EGP25,000&ndash;30,000, though some banks have a limit as high as EGP300,000 (al-Antari &amp; Ezzat, 2020). Most of these financing programs are implemented by government bodies like the Ministry of Local Development and the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA), which prefer to fund already existing businesses with tax records and a lease or ownership contract. As such, banks target certain groups and a certain level of business (al-Antari &amp; Ezzat, 2020).&nbsp;&nbsp;
There are, however, two bodies able to reach the countryside, working-class areas, and peripheral regions: the post office and the Egyptian Agricultural Bank, both of which are familiar to women and youth from these areas. The minimum sum required to open an account is EGP50 at the post office and EGP100 at the Egyptian Agricultural Bank. Both of these bodies also have a presence in villages and neighborhoods. The Egyptian Agricultural Bank has 1,200 branches, constituting 26% of bank branches across the country, and both the post office and the bank offer numerous financial services appropriate for rural areas. The Agricultural Bank offers loans starting at EGP500, focusing on agricultural enterprises like raising poultry and livestock but also providing financing to owners of workshops and small industrial enterprises (interview with Marwa Khidr, general director for financial inclusion, Egyptian Agricultural Bank).&nbsp;&nbsp;
Currently banking services are limited to offering bank accounts and financing for SMEs, most of them conventional enterprises in agriculture, handicrafts, and traditional professions. Of course, a feasibility study is prepared and there is follow-up to ensure repayment of the loan. These banks therefore play an effective role in providing capital and ensuring debt payment, but this alone is not sufficient to provide decent jobs. That requires that the enterprise be sustainable and mature enough to compete and expand, which will in turn bring the profits needed to secure an adequate income that can improve living standards and pull women and youth out of poverty.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Decent work, according to the standards of the International Labour Organization, requires sustainability, which is linked with competitiveness and the capacity of a business to grow and make a return sufficient to secure daily living needs and social protection.&nbsp;
Accordingly, if financial services are not coupled with other measures, we will not be able to ensure decent jobs. These measures include:&nbsp;&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>The MSMEDA can play a role in coordinating the efforts of the many bodies that offer financial services (banks, NGOs, civic institutions). It can follow up with business owners and provide appropriate training programs for them to strengthen their management skills and improve quality and productivity.&nbsp;</li>
<li>The MSMEDA, in concert with the competent government bodies, can prepare market research and outline specific market needs in Egypt and abroad, in order to avoid duplicative enterprises and expand them beyond the conventional economic activities, especially for women-led enterprises. Such traditional activities limit the generation of sustainable, competitive economic opportunities for women.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Owners of SMEs should be covered by the social protection system (health and social insurance), and the protection system must be developed so that it can function in pandemic conditions. Women must also be ensured the necessary protection during pregnancy and birth and for childcare.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Access to the internet must be facilitated to improve access to technological services and communications at a low cost. This will help to bring marginalized women and youth into the financial services system and the electronic tax system.&nbsp;</li>
<li>A new cooperatives law should be enacted to allow the establishment of businesses on a participative basis and the pooling of capital. This will contribute to the growth, development, and competitiveness of small enterprises and generate more opportunities for profit.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
All these measures will aid in the transition from the informal to the formal sector. They will assist in preparing an updated database based on age, geographic location, and business size while permitting these enterprises to be monitored. They will further allow for the inclusion of business owners, both men and women, in union organizations. Taken together, the provision of financial services in addition to measures to incorporate SMEs into the formal sector, apply social protection policies, and guarantee the right to organize will help to provide decent jobs. In addition, action must be taken to change cultural and social mores that prevent women from exercising their freedom of movement, making financial decisions, and accessing economic resources and sources of wealth (for example, their right to inherit land and property).&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<hr>
References
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;">Al-Antari, S., &amp; Ezzat, M. (2020). Financial inclusion and increasing decent jobs for women, especially in rural Egypt (al-Shumul al-mali wa-ziyadat furas al-&lsquo;amal al-la&rsquo;iq li-l-nisa&rsquo; wa la siyyama fi al-rif al-Misri). [in Arabic]. New Woman Foundation.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;">Central Bank of Egypt. (2019). Circular dated 17 July 2019 regarding simplified KYC regulations for financial inclusion products (Kitab dawri bi-tarikh 17 Yulyu 2019 bi-sh&rsquo;an al-qawa&lsquo;id al-munazzima li-tasnif muntajat wa-khadamat al-shumul al-mali). [in Arabic]. <a href="https://cutt.ly/qF4Zikz">https://cutt.ly/qF4Zikz</a>.</li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;">National Council for Women. (2017). National strategy for the empowerment of Egyptian women 2030. <a href="http://ncw.gov.eg/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/final-version-national-strategy-for-the-empowerment-of-egyptian-women-2030.pdf">http://ncw.gov.eg/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/final-version-national-strategy-for-the-empowerment-of-egyptian-women-2030.pdf</a>.</li>
<li style="font-size: 10pt;">Youssef, M. (2021). Survey of a sample of the general public on financial inclusion services (Istitla&lsquo; ra&rsquo;i &lsquo;ayyina min al-jumhur al-&lsquo;amm hawl khadamat al-shumul al-mali). [in Arabic] National Center for Social and Criminological Research.</li>
</ul>

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