Women in the Islamic Economy

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Saudi-government Kafalah grants $115m in loans to female-led enterprises

Kafalah spans business sectors including wholesale commerce, catering and hotels, manufacturing industries, and administrative and support services.

26 Sep 2021

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Some 36 women to be Istanbul’s first female firefighters

“We will show that Turkish women exist in firefighting, too."

09 Sep 2021

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Afghan women vow to resist Taliban rules

'It is not the Afghanistan of 20 years ago'

09 Sep 2021

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First hijab-wearing lawmaker in Israel's government coalition

Iman al-Khatib Yassin will replace lawmaker Saeed al-Kharumi who died earlier this week.

26 Aug 2021

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‘Their lives are in danger’: Afghanistan’s female athletes sound alarm after Taliban takeover

Afghanistan enjoyed a period of relative freedom after a US-led coalition ousted the Taliban from power in 2001.

22 Aug 2021

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Taliban say Afghan women will be allowed to work and study ‘according to Islamic law’

The Taliban vowed Tuesday to respect women's rights, forgive those who resisted them and ensure a secure Afghanistan as part of a publicity blitz.

17 Aug 2021

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Turkey unveils new action plan for violence against women

Turket unveiled the new action plan on the day it formally withdrew from the Istanbul Convention.

01 Jul 2021

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Saudi Arabia allows adult women to live independently without male guardian approval

"An adult woman has the right to choose where to live. A woman’s guardian can report her only if he has evidence proving she committed a crime."

11 Jun 2021

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Bangladesh: Experts call for inclusion of women in sustainable food systems

Despite playing a critical role in ensuring food security and proper nutrition for families, women remain common victims to malnutrition.

04 Jun 2021

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Saudi Central Bank allows mothers to open bank accounts for their children

Accounts for minors will be a subsidiary of the mother's

28 May 2021

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Bangladesh health tech start-up Arogga raises $200,000 seed funding

Notably, six female angels invested in Arogga in this round.

25 May 2021

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Rare Middle East push for women on boards runs into culture wall

UAE authorities announced mid-March that listed companies should have at least one female board member.

18 May 2021

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Alwaleed Philanthropies to promote Saudi female artisans

New brand Mizwada aims to support Saudi female artisans and give them a vehicle to showcase their work and earn money from it.

06 May 2021

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Egypt, UN Women discuss joint cooperation to streamline women’s empowerment efforts

Empowering women is one of the main pillars in Egypt’s national development agenda.

30 Apr 2021

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Saudi private sector leads surge in female employment, study shows

Between the beginning of 2019 and the end of 2020, Saudi women in the labor market grew by 64 percent

25 Apr 2021

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34 projects worth $3.3 bln aim to achieve gender equality in Egypt: minister

The top targeted sectors include: health (20%); micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) (15%); and education (14%).

13 Apr 2021

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Egypt takes measures against German company for discrimination against Muslim Egyptian

Egypt said it will take measures against a German company for its discrimination against an Egyptian woman for wearing the hijab.

11 Apr 2021

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HSBC’s Saudi unit hires Aldossary as women make inroads in Gulf

Loosening restrictions on women is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to get more Saudis working in the private sector.

29 Mar 2021

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Egypt’s top Islamic authority Al-Azhar approves law toughening FGM penalties

The draft law states tougher penalty for FGM to up to 20 years imprisonment, instead of the previous maximum of seven years.

28 Mar 2021

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Egypt’s Parliament preliminarily approves draft law toughening FGM penalties

The amendments cover those individuals found guilty of performing the operation.

25 Mar 2021

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Egypt's Sisi pledges support for Egyptian women, vows to bar child marriage

The President pledged to approve social, economic and legal measures to support Egyptian women.

22 Mar 2021

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Rising demand for wealth management services among Middle Eastern women

Studies have forecast that four-in-five women from high-net-worth families were getting ready to inherit substantial wealth over the next decade.

16 Mar 2021

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Pakistan's Sehat Kahani raises $1 million Pre-Series A to grow its telemedicine network

Founded by two female doctors, it started as a network to connect home-based female doctors to patients via tele-enabled brick and mortar clinics.

15 Mar 2021

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UAE to require listed firms to have at least one woman on board

The requirement came into force after the Securities and Commodities Authority’s meeting on Sunday.

14 Mar 2021

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Oman: Female trail runner promotes sport among women

Suad al Nasibi, a student and an adventure enthusiast, completed 50km trail run and won the recently organised Himam Trail Run in Dakhliyah.

06 Mar 2021

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The state of women in Turkey

Amidst Turkey's rapid shape-shifting, the single most important failure has been on the role of women in the country.

06 Mar 2021

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Do the internally displaced and abducted school girls celebrate International Women’s Day?

The fight for the progress of any nation must be anchored on the vision the country has for its young ones.

06 Mar 2021

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This month in history: Celebrating women in March through the years

Daily News Egypt looks at the background behind the month of celebrations, and reveal the stories behind every day.

05 Mar 2021

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Egypt launches ‘Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator’ action plan

It comes as part of the ministry’s continued efforts to close the Gender Gap and in celebration of the upcoming International’s Women Day on 8 March.

05 Mar 2021

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Egypt’s National Council for Women launches awareness campaign on nutrition education

The national body is working with Saudi Arabia-based Savola Group.

05 Mar 2021

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92% of women in Jordan's agriculture industry earn less than minimum wage: study

100 per cent of the respondents to the study are not subscribed to social security and do not have any health insurance.

01 Mar 2021

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Nigerian women face constraints in starting businesses, pension, others

Women in Nigeria also face constraints working after having children and gender differences in property and inheritance.

27 Feb 2021

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Egypt's government discusses proposals to encourage family planning

The government is proposing g a fund to present incentives to encourage family planning.

25 Feb 2021

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Saudi women-owned companies jump 60 percent

World Bank regional director: Kingdom has adopted legislative reforms and lifted restrictions on women’s work

25 Feb 2021

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This woman has inspired a platform of entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Nasima Aktar Nisha is known for creating 'Women and e-Commerce' (WE), which is a platform for women entrepreneurs.

25 Feb 2021

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Jordanian women make inroads into top posts

According to World Bank figures, women’s participation in the workforce in Jordan is estimated at 16 per cent.

24 Feb 2021

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Turkish women scientists’ ratio surpasses EU average, data shows

There were around 15.4 million scientists and engineers in the EU in 2019, 41% were women.

23 Feb 2021

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Nigeria: Young women are proving their mettle in agriculture

Women account for 75 percent of the farming population in Nigeria.

19 Feb 2021

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FGM in Egypt: Culture goes through sea change as law revolutionises

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is not new to Egypt, with as many as 87.2% of the country’s women having experienced it.

18 Feb 2021

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Saudi Arabia’s small cities see sports boom ahead of first Basketball tournament for women

Women’s access to sports in Saudi Arabia is set to expand even more in 2021, with the first female basketball tournament.

14 Feb 2021

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UAE hypermarket LuLu opens first women-led store in Saudi Arabia

The move is designed at reaffirming the group’s commitment to the economic empowerment of Saudi women in line with the Vision 2030 reform.

11 Feb 2021

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Women in Oman sports set to get a boost

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth has made it mandatory for all sports associations to have one elected woman board member.

07 Feb 2021

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Egypt’s listed companies still poor in female representation at highest levels: Board Diversity Index 2020

More than half of Egypt’s listed companies have at least one member in their BOD that is female, as of 31 July 2020, compared to 47% in 2019.

04 Feb 2021

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Egypt sees gender-based violent crimes rise to 415 during 2020: Edraak Foundation

The pandemic has created a more fertile environment for violence, especially domestic violence.

04 Feb 2021

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U.N. bodies launch fund for women enterprises in South and Southeast Asia

The fund will support innovative business solutions.

11 Jan 2021

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Egypt offers incentives for non-banking financial activities aimed at supporting women

Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority has revealed its agenda that includes decisions on four important files related to the non-banking financial sector.

29 Dec 2020

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Jordan: Activists call for improved wages, decent working conditions for women workers in agriculture sector

The rights of women in the agricultural sector are the ones “most violated”, said activists.

27 Dec 2020

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Women make up majority of 800m unbanked Muslim population

UK-based digital banking firm says the majority of 1.7 billion unbanked adults are Muslims

21 Dec 2020

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Jordan: Panel discussion tackles obstacles in path of women’s economic participation

EuroMed Feminist Initiative and a consortium of partner organisations in Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan in Sep 2018 started implementing a gender regional programme.

16 Dec 2020

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Citibank names Elissar Antonios as first woman to run MENA operations

Antonios will assume overall responsibility for driving Citi’s business in the region.

09 Dec 2020

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Saudi G20 Presidency seeks int’l framework for economic empowerment of women

Officials participating at the G20’s Women Engagement Group (W20) confirmed the international forum’s interest in promoting women empowerment agendas.

19 Nov 2020

News

Jordanian women turn elections into celebration of hard-earned voting rights

Jordanian women headed to the polling stations Tuesday to exercise their right to vote in parliamentary elections.

11 Nov 2020

News

Oman central bank celebrates rising women participation in banking sector

The total number of Omani women working in Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows currently stand at 469 or 33% of the total workforce.

19 Oct 2020

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Gender Gap Accelerator to boost workplace inclusion, diversity: Egypt's International Cooperation Minister

Amid the pandemic, one of the reforms that has been accelerated in Egypt is the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator”.

06 Oct 2020

News

In Jordan, a webinar calls for bolstering women's inheritance rights

“It is of utmost importance for women to constantly educate themselves about their inheritance rights and on what the law and Sharia stipulates to guarantee that they would not be tricked into waiving their inheritance rights.”

01 Oct 2020

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Women's associations in Nigeria step up efforts to tackle business challenges

A coalition is set to host over 30,000 guests to the first-ever Nigerian Women Business Virtual Summit (NWBS 2020) from 29th Sep – 1st Oct 2020.

20 Sep 2020

News

First female real estate office opens In Saudi Arabia

The first female real estate office was inaugurated, reflecting the Saudi leadership’s endeavor to empower Saudi women in line with Vision 2030.

17 Sep 2020

News

Nigeria food security: Experts seek support for women farmers

Empowering women-farmers would Nigeria’s attainment of food security, experts have urged the Federal Government.

28 Aug 2020

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Small-scale factories to encourage Saudi women investors

The shift towards smaller factories followed claims by businesswomen who said ready-made factories were too big for the size of their businesses.

28 Aug 2020

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IFC launches 3-year programme to boost Egypt’s female employment

The programme aims to highlight how the private sector can tap into Egypt's large and underutilised female talent pool, spurring economic growth.

23 Jul 2020

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Turkey's women movement upcoming challenge

Muslim women have long been fighting one group of seculars whose restrictive approach to their outfits have forced the limits of freedom of conscience.

23 Jul 2020

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Survey points to married women’s low participation in Jordan's labour force

About 85.5% of women, who have been married in Jordan, are out of the labour force, while 13.8% have jobs and 0.7% are jobseekers.

22 Jul 2020

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COVID-19 threatens reversal of women’s rights, opportunities

Women are disproportionally affected by disease outbreaks due to intensified pre-existing gender inequalities during emergencies.

21 Jul 2020

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Egypt launches Africa, MENA’s first accelerator to bridge gender gap

The model supports public and private leaders in shaping pathways to promote gender equality, diversity, inclusion, and economic mobility.

20 Jul 2020

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Egypt's financial regulator launches guide for “Empowering Women” application

The app is designed to create a database of qualified female professionals looking to take part in the administrative decision making process.

13 Jul 2020

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Egypt to link Takaful cash support with preventing child marriage

The conditions aim to provide social protection for girls aged under 18, ensuring the health of the mother and children.

03 May 2021

News

Global Islamic Fintech Report 2022

State of the Global Islamic Economy 2022

Food Security

Women in the Islamic Economy

COVID-19 and the Global Islamic Economy

E-book: Impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on Islamic finance in OIC countries

State of the Global Islamic Economy 2020/21

Global Islamic Fintech Report 2021

Women in the Islamic Economy

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Global Islamic Fintech Report 2022

State of the Global Islamic Economy 2022

Food Security

Women in the Islamic Economy

COVID-19 and the Global Islamic Economy

E-book: Impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on Islamic finance in OIC countries

State of the Global Islamic Economy 2020/21

Global Islamic Fintech Report 2021