As every September 18, from Fundación Promoción Social and through our Women and Equality Observatory (OMEI), we join the celebration of the International Equal Pay Day to remember and insist on the need to reach this decisive milestone to continue advancing on the path of human rights and equity between men and women.
Contributing to overcoming the barriers that many women face in accessing decent work and fair and equitable remuneration is one of the main objectives for which we work in many of the projects we develop in the countries where we are present.
To work towards this goal and achieve the milestone of equal pay, we not only promote women’s empowerment, inclusive economic growth and pay equity for work of equal value, but we are convinced that it is also necessary to close the gaps in access to quality education that many girls and young women in these countries face.
Irene’s example
The story of Irene Reda, a young Egyptian woman, is a clear example of this. Irene is 20 years old and passionate about cooking. However, she had neither the necessary experience nor the right training to be able to work in the field. Then, through her brother, she discovered a training program that she was able to access and, thanks to which, she has begun her preparation as a professional in the sector, which will also allow her to obtain an official certification that accredits her professionalism.
This training course is developed in the framework of the agreement in Upper Egypt that we are implementing thanks to AECID, in collaboration with the CIDEAL Foundation and our local partners AUEED, Enroot and KEF to contribute to economic, inclusive and sustainable growth and decent work in the tourism sector.
“I am gaining a lot of experience on things I didn’t know before, mainly about food and cooking, but also on such important issues as risk assessment, safety procedures in the kitchen, or cost control in menu implementation,” Irene shares.
Once she has completed her training, she is looking forward to opening her own restaurant together with her brother and father. We are sure that she will succeed and become a great professional!