Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Maye Ehab

Author

Maye Ehab
Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg and University of Bamberg, Germany

Maye Ehab is currently a Doctoral Fellow at the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences and a Research Associate at the chair of Sociology, especially Methods of Empirical Social Research at the University of Bamberg. Ehab received an MA in Economics from the American University in Cairo in 2010 and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science in Cairo University in 2008. Ehab held a number of positions with the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies in Cairo, the Egyptian Competition Authority, El-Watan Research and was a Visiting Fellow with UNCTAD at the Division on Investment and Enterprise in Geneva. Maye’s areas of interest are Gender economics, Labor Market Outcomes and Policy Analysis. Her latest publications are around topics of the gender gap and female participation, geographical mobility, as well as job quality and health outcomes in the Egyptian Labor Market.

Content by this Author

Egypt’s care economy needs to address deteriorating working conditions

A robust and high-quality care economy is critical for supporting women’s employment – as both an employer of women and a mechanism for redistributing unpaid care work to the market. Yet in Egypt, despite national goals of expanding care services, employment in the sector has been shrinking, while becoming increasingly privatised. As this column reports, care jobs have also experienced worsening conditions of work, including reduced formality and the emergence of a pay penalty for care workers.

Most read

The political economy of stalled structural reforms in MENA

There is a persistent pattern to the structural reforms that are required to underpin economic progress in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa: ambitious strategies are announced and partially implemented, but ultimately they are diluted or reversed. This column argues that the repeated stalling of reform is not primarily a failure of economic design. Rather, it reflects deep-seated political economy constraints rooted in rent dependence, elite bargaining and weak institutional credibility. Without addressing these underlying dynamics, reform efforts are likely to remain symbolic rather than transformative.

Untapped talent, unrealised growth: jobs and women in the MENAAP region

Only around one in five women of working age participate in the labour markets of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan. As this column explains, the region can no longer afford to leave half its human capital underused. Expanding women’s labour force participation is central to growth and resilience in the face of looming demographic change.

Closing the gender gap in political participation in MENA

Women across the Middle East and North Africa participate less than men in politics – not only in political parties and elections, but also in petitions, boycotts, protests and strikes. This column reports evidence from ten countries showing that differences in education, employment and political attitudes explain part of this disparity, yet a significant gender gap remains.

Labour demand and informal employment in Egypt’s manufacturing sector

Egypt’s manufacturing sector faces a dual challenge of weak job creation and persistent informality. Drawing on survey evidence on business behaviour and labour market dynamics, this column explains why job creation is limited and informal work remains such an integral part of how firms organise production. The generation of more formal jobs requires a comprehensive policy approach, one that goes beyond enforcement of labour regulations to reshape the economic environment in which firms and workers make decisions.




Linkedin