Wading through Treacle: Female Commercial School Graduates (CSGs) in Egypt's Informal Economy

This article examines the work experiences of female graduates of commercial schools in Egypt's informal economy after the downsizing of the public sector, historically the main employer of university and technical school graduates. It is about the struggle of these women to find a place in the labor market that is appropriate to their status as educated individuals on the periphery of the middle class. I argue that the jobs that commercial school graduates (CSGs) are able to access are dead-end ones that offer no opportunities for growth. They also serve as constant reminders of Egyptian women's low socioeconomic standing. Despite the uniqueness of each experience, female CSGs face structural constraints that impact their work experiences as a group. Class and gender play a central role in shaping these collective experiences. I demonstrate how these two structures interact and reinforce each other in the process of female CSGs entering the labor market, as well as in determining the types of work they are able to access. Most significantly, instead of allowing them to cross the manual-/nonmanual-labor divide, which is important for women from this educational and social background, their jobs further blur the boundaries between manual and clerical work. Although the jobs that are available to these CSGs have not been conducive to occupational advancement, nonetheless they serve as catalysts that challenge their understanding of gender roles, social standing, and relations with lower and upper classes.