Lana Abou Zeid

Mrs. Lana Abou Zeid has work experience in preparing public policy proposals and legislation related to women’s empowerment. She worked in the National Council for Women as a legal researcher, expert in public policies and legislation, and technical assistance to the President of the National Council for Women, and as a legal and technical consultant in the Women’s Development Organization (WDO) in the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. She worked on many projects, activities, policy analysis, and programs focusing on women’s empowerment and gender equality, specifically on the legislative agenda, and contributed to many draft laws, studies, legal research, and international and national reports related to women’s issues. She holds two master’s degrees in law from the Faculty of Law - Ain Shams University and a master’s degree in gender and development studies from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science - Cairo University. She graduated from the “Women’s Mentorship Programme,” the first mentorship program for leadership and decision-making positions in Egypt. She represented the National Council for Women and participated in many conferences, training programs and workshops locally and internationally.

Ms. Lana played a pivotal role in contributing to the formulation and submission of a number of important draft laws and amendments related to laws, legislation, national/international reports and research on women’s issues and seeks to continue working within the framework of women’s empowerment at all levels.

• Leadership, communication skills, negotiation skills, 2018-2019, Women Mentorship Program
• Master's degree in Gender and Development, 2016-2018, Faculty of Economics and Political Science - Cairo University
• Master's degree in law, 2013-2015, Faculty of Law - Ain Shams
• Bachelor's Degree - Cumulative GPA: B+, 2007-2011, Faculty of Law - English Department - Ain Shams University
• High School certificate, 1997-2007, Armenian Catholic Nuns School

• Researcher in the Human Development Report Egypt 2021 - Development is a Right for All: Egypt’s Journey and Path “Chapter 4: The New Renaissance of Egyptian Women: Leadership Role and Community Contribution

• Co-regional coordinator and author: Study “Monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the situation of women and girls in the Arab region and the response plan and recommendations related to epidemics and disasters.”

• Author of “Paper on protecting women from violent crimes in national laws and legislation - Egypt” (2020-2023)

• Participated in preparing the “Policy Paper: Egypt’s Rapid Response to the Situation of Women During the Covid-19 Outbreak” (March 2020)

• Participation in preparing: Women’s Observatory on Responsive Policies and Programs during the Covid-19 Pandemic “Women Policy Tracker.”

• Legal and technical expert in the DPF project to enhance women’s economic participation in Egypt based on the Women, Business, and the Law report.

• Review and participate in the preparation of the “National Strategy Report to Eliminate Violence against Women 2015-2020”

• Study the procedures that are followed internationally to enhance women’s empowerment and prepare proposals to implement them in Egypt in line with national visions and priorities.

• Preparation of working papers on national priorities for empowering women in Egypt and updating them in line with the national vision

• Drafting and reviewing legislative proposals related to Egyptian women’s issues:

1. Law regulating the work of the National Council for Women (Law No. 30/2018).

2. Law criminalizing deprivation of inheritance (Law No. 219/2017).

3. Proposed laws and amendments to personal status laws (since 2017)

4. Proposed Amendments to the Genital Mutilation (Female Circumcision) Law (2020-2021)

5. Amendments to the Penal Code to protect women from all forms of violence (since 2017).

6. Law No. 189 of 2020 amends some provisions of the Penal Code to criminalize and define bullying

7. Amending the Labor Law and its regulations “Ministry of Manpower Resolutions No. 43 and 44 of 2021 regarding women’s work in certain jobs and industries and night work.”

8. Prime Minister’s Decision No. 827/2021 establishing the One Stop Center “The Combined Unit to Protect Women from Violence.”

9. Minister of Transport Decision No. 237/2021 issuing the National Code of Conduct for employees, operators, and workers in transportation facilities and means of transportation to govern the safety and security of male and female citizens on public transportation.

10. Law No. 141 of 2021 amending some provisions of the Penal Code (amending sexual harassment articles, Article 306 bis A and Article 306 bis B)

11. Draft a law preventing early marriage.

12. A draft law to confront violence within the family.

13. Amendments to children’s laws and penalties regarding registration of births and juveniles, sponsored working women, and confronting harassment in public transportation.

• Representative of the National Council for Women in the work team supervising the development of the training course on “Gender and Sustainable Development” affiliated with the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NMI) and UN Women - since October 2020

• Participation in the chapter “Promotion and Protection of Women’s Rights” - African Peer Review Mechanism “APRM” Report

• Formulate and provide technical and legal assistance in:

o The technical file and contribution to the parts related to women in the discussion of Egypt’s fifth periodic report before the Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 2023

o Technical file for Egypt’s discussion of the combined report of the eighth and ninth periodic reports submitted to the eightieth session of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW 2021)

o The Financial Regulatory Authority’s Code of Ethics issued in Circular No. 7 of 2021

o Participation in preparing the women’s rights axis in the National Human Rights Strategy 2021-2030

o Technical file of the National Council for Women participating in the Universal Periodic Review of Egypt November 2019 - United Nations Human Rights Council - UPR

o Responses of the National Council for Women to questions about women’s rights in Egypt (Periodic Report of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 2019)

o Gender, Justice, and Law in Egypt Report: Assessing Laws Affecting Gender Equality and Protection from Gender-Based Violence (UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA and ESCWA) - 2018

o Responses of the National Council for Women on Egypt - Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) (World Bank) (2018-2019-2020)

o Responses to draft SDG 5.1.1: “Whether or not legal frameworks exist to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination based on gender” (World Bank and UN Women)

• Research contribution to “Papers and Activities on the Economic, Social, and Legal Empowerment of Egyptian Women.”

• Arab-Japanese Youth Dialogue on “The Role of Youth in Combating Negative Stereotypes Against Women in Society” and “Youth and the Women’s Agenda, Security and Peace” - Arab Women Organization - Cairo from February 7, 2020, to December 7, 2021
• Specialized training course for women in Arab countries on “Observing general elections from a gender perspective” - Session 3 - Arab Women Organization - Cairo from November 30 to December 1, 2020
• Gender Equality Policy Mainstreaming Program Government Representatives - Japan from January 12 to February 12, 2020
• Council of Europe Training Program for Human Rights Legal Professionals (HELP) (VAW & DV) - Rabat - Morocco on November 25-26, 2019
• Course in International Refugee Law - “International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL) and UNHCR - Sharm El Sheikh - Egypt on September 22-25, 2019
• Negotiation Skills for the World of Work Course - ITC - International Labor Organization “Turin Training Center” - Italy on September 9-13, 2019
• Workshop on strategic planning and proposal writing - UN Women VNG - Cairo - Egypt on August 5-7, 2019
• Specialized training course for women in Arab countries on “Observing general elections from a gender perspective” - Session 2 - Arab Women Organization - Morocco on July 21-23, 2019
• Arab youth dialogue on enhancing the role of women in peacebuilding and activating Security Council Resolution 1325 - Arab Women Organization - Marrakesh-Morocco on July 18-20, 2019
• A training course on writing skills for reports submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women - CEDAW Arab Women Organization - Hurghada - Egypt on May 17-18, 2019
• Specialized training course for women in Arab countries on “Observing general elections from a gender perspective” - Session 1 - Arab Women Organization - Cairo on October 22-24, 2018
• Strengthening the business environment in the southern Mediterranean Sub-regional workshop on women’s entrepreneurship - European Union - Beirut Lebanon on September 28, 2017
• An interdisciplinary study tour on crimes of violence against women - USA on February 11-29, 2016
• Training of Trainers: Empowering Local Councils - The Swedish Institute in Alexandria and the Arab Forum for Alternatives - Beirut - Lebanon on July 25-28, 2015
• Workshop on scaling up the pilot project “Economic Empowerment for 10,000 Youth in 3 Governorates” - Plan International - Egypt in June 2015
• Gender, peace and security: gender mainstreaming in peacebuilding and statebuilding (Finnish Crisis Management Center and Cairo Center for Armed Conflict Resolution) in March 2014
• Effectiveness of gender equality training graduates in October 2014
• The second session of the Arab Legal Culture Program - Arab Center for Law Awareness - Egypt on November 25-29, 2012

• Member of the Legislative Committee of the National Council for Women
• Member of the Arab Women’s Team to monitor the general elections from a gender perspective - first in class
• Coordinator of the National Council for Women in the Supreme Permanent Committee for Human Rights in Egypt
• NCW point of contact for WBL and DPF projects (since 2020)
• Member of the Permanent Advisory Committee for Arab Youth - Arab Women’s Organization (AWO) (since 2018)
• Coordinator of the National Council for Women in the meetings of the Ministerial Committee on Personal Status Law (2019-2020).
• Participation in the evaluation committee of the Executive Leadership Program for Women in Government (second batch) - November 2019

• Date of Birth: 06/29/89
• Nationality: Egyptian
• Marital Status: married