The president of Egypt’s National Council for Women, Maya Morsy, praised recent efforts to further women’s empowerment in a statement to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March. She highlighted the impact of the constitution in enshrining certain principles of non-discrimination in law, as well as steps that have been taken to punish Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and harassment.

We’re not ones to discount progress, but let’s not go overboard: A CAPMAS statement issued to celebrate IWD showed that women make up less than 20.9% of the country’s workforce. AMAY has the stats.

In other IWD miscellany: Magda Gobran (aka Mama Maggie) became the first Egyptian woman to receive the International Woman of Courage award last week.Gobran established the Stephen’s Children NGO in Mokattam to provide food, clothing and education to impoverished children. And Lebanese artist Christina Atik is getting coverage in Reuters for her latest project:a series of digital paintings tackling the everyday social criticism faced by women in the Arab world.