The National strategy for women empowerment that has been launched by the National Council for Women in 2017 aims at increasing women’s presence in leadership positions. One of the challenges addressed by the strategy is the culture, values and perceptions about women’s capabilities to act as a business and political leader.

This paper sheds light on the perceptions of Egyptian regarding appointing women in leadership positions in government and in private sector, and presents a set of recommendations to improve women representation in the high level management in these sectors.