Happy International Women’s Day to all our women readers. We know you’re a special bunch — leading businesses, pioneering industries, and making an impact in every sector — and we’ve been honored to talk to some of you on our podcast Making It.

We’ve made some progress here in Egypt in the past 12 months, notably including the Financial Regulatory Authority’s order that all listed companies must have at least one woman board member by this year. The regulator has also said it is drawing up a code of ethics to clamp down on harassment in the workplace, and the country has worked curb [redacted] harassment by presenting changes to the criminal code designed to protect victims’ personal data, while

This year’s IWD theme is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a covid-19 world,” highlighting the role women have been playing at the forefront of the global health crisis as health workers, caregivers, country leaders, and innovators, according to the World Economic Forum.

The whole world has a long way to go, though: Covid-19 has disproportionately affected women, who have been 1.8x more likely than men to have lost their jobs or livelihoods during the crisis, Sanda Ojiambo writes in an op-ed for The Financial Times. Women are also at a higher risk of exposure to the virus, as they constitute nearly 70% of all healthcare workers, while also working in essential services such as teachers, cleaners, and store attendants. Philanthropist Melinda Gates puts the cost of gender inequality in the USD tns.