The Impact of Gender on Refugees' Educational Experiences in Egypt

This paper examines how gender shapes refugees’ educational experiences in Egypt and how it interacts with other structural factors influencing access to and continuity in education. The study addresses the following research question: How does gender influence refugees’ educational experiences in Egypt, and how do intersecting factors such as legal status, socio-economic conditions, and nationality shape these experiences? The study adopts a structured desk review, synthesising academic literature, policy documents, and institutional reports published between 2012 and 2025. The analysis is guided by a theoretical framework that integrates gender analysis, educational equity, intersectionality, and the education-in-emergencies perspective to examine how educational opportunities are shaped in displacement contexts. The findings indicate that refugees’ educational trajectories in Egypt are strongly influenced by gendered social expectations and structural barriers. Refugee girls often encounter constraints related to safety concerns, domestic responsibilities, and risks of early marriage, while refugee boys frequently experience pressure to enter informal labor markets to support household income, leading to interrupted schooling. These dynamics are further shaped by intersecting factors such as legal status, race, nationality, and economic vulnerability. The study contributes to the literature by providing a gender-sensitive and intersectional synthesis of refugee education in Egypt, highlighting the gap between formal equality in access to education and the need for equity-oriented and gender-responsive educational policies.