GENDER EQUALITY IN CYPRUS STILL A LONG WAY TO GO

October 28, 2001 – (People’s Daily Online – China) Although progress has been made in gender equality in Cyprus, a lot of work remains to be done, former Cypriot President George Vassiliou has said at an international gathering on business and professional women.

"Democracy cannot be achieved without the effective participation of women in all aspects," Vassiliou said, while addressing the four-day pan-European conference on women and positions of leadership which ended in Cyprus' southern coastal city of Limassol on Saturday.

In Cyprus, women have the right to vote and to be voted since the country's independence in 1960. Over the past 20 years, more and more Cypriot women have arrived at key positions in public and private sectors.

Since 1995, Cyprus' government budget for NMWK (National Machinery for Women's Rights) has increased year by year.

The budget for NMWK in 2001 amounted to 150,000 Cypriot pounds (240,000 U.S. dollars), compared to 25,000 pounds (50,000 dollars) in 1995.

Although there has been some progress in gender equality, inequality between men and women is still a remarkable phenomenon, especially in the areas of politics and management.

In the current parliament which emerged in May, there are only six women deputies out of a total of 56, accounting for 10.7 percent, compared to three women deputies, or about 5 percent, in the previous parliament.

The Cypriot government has no female ministers. In local administrations, women account for 22.6 percent of total civil servants. Only four out of 33 mayors are women. Women's share at all governmental levels averages at about 3 percent.

Gender equality in the economic field is also a dream to come true.

According to a survey conducted by Cyprus University earlier this year, women's pay amounts to 70 percent of that of men and there is discrimination in both private and public sectors.

The survey also showed that there is discrimination against women in terms of pay even when they are of the same age, with the same experience, and share the same educational qualifications with their male colleagues.

The survey put Cyprus at the second worst place in Europe, after Portugal, in terms of pay discrimination against women.

Cypriot women suffer more unemployment than men. Women make up 38.85 percent of the island's workforce, but account for 54.41 percent of the unemployed.

Statistics indicate that the number of women stands at 10 percent for key managerial positions and 11 percent in civil service, despite a higher number of women being employed there.

Analysts attribute the poor representation of women to the lack of infrastructure to support working mothers and the reality that the male still dominates the society.

To improve women's status, the Cypriot government and political party leaders have pledged to meet the goal of a minimum of 30 percent representation of women in decision-making and politics by 2005.

Moreover, Cyprus has adopted a legislation on equal pay for equal work.

From: http://fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/200110/28/eng20011028_83352.html