A PROJECT which aims to help girls be treated as equals with boys, so that one day Cyprus could have more women in Parliament and in decision-making generally, is under way on the island.
Olga Demetriades, wife of Lellos, Mayor of Nicosia, who heads the project in Cyprus, said: “Our efforts focus on helping young girls act and be treated equally to boys in society, developing assertiveness and self-confidence. Girls must believe that as women they can actually contribute in society, at work and in public and political life as well as men.”
“This way we will have more women in Parliament, in decision-making centres and vital posts in the work-field. To try and promote this idea in the patriarchal Cypriot society, we followed the example of the American Ms Foundation for Women which started the Take Our Daughters to Work Day scheme ten years ago.”
Last Thursday, in a pilot scheme, 300 girls between 12 and 15 years old joined their parents or relatives at work, where they were assigned projects and later assessed. The event was initiated by AMADE, a branch of a voluntary non-governmental organisation, the Association of the Friends of the Child, which is based in Monte Carlo.
Three hundred students from Pallouriotissa, Dianellou and Theodotou and Faneromenis secondary schools as well as from the English School, Falcon and Highgate schools worked for a day in the private sector, at banks, in Government offices, the semi-public sector and the UN headquarters. Some girls worked at executives’ offices and some at the Nicosia Municipality.
Charis Charalambous, 15, a student at Dianellou and Theodotou school, liked the work at her mother’s hairdressing salon. Her mother said: “It is a good opportunity for children to get to know their parent’s work.”
The pilot scheme was approved by the Ministry of Education and AMADE looks forward to the establishment of it as an annual event, says Demetriades. “Girls at 11 should be the ones to join in because they are more eager to do so, in contrast to 15-year-old girls who, in their majority, know in advance what they want to do after high school.
“Once girls have joined the Take Our Daughters to Work Day scheme, they will have a lot of years to make a final decision on which profession they want to follow. And if one girl, let’s say, wants to become a teacher and she has no one in her family who is a teacher, she can go to a school with a mentor, someone from AMADE or a friend of her family who is keen to help.”
Girls taking part in the project write assessments and fill in questionnaires to hand to their school’s head teacher, pointing out what they liked and did not like in the working environment, outlining what they had to do and discussing their experiences.
In 1999, a Roper Starch Poll showed young adults believed that girls in America perceived a wider range of career options now than they did a decade ago. The Take Our Daughters to Work website suggests the poll’s findings prove the scheme is working.
“The way we are going about things in Cyprus, I see no future for women in political and public life unless we set a far-sighted target. If we involve more associations and organisations, governmental and non-governmental, in this project we might make a change in ten years’ time,” said Demetriades.
“If banks and big organisations contribute in this annual campaign we will eventually have more women in Parliament elected on their own merits, because they will believe in their strengths and will vote for each other,” she added.
There is already a volunteer from the Hellenic Bank who is trying to get employees’ daughters to the bank for next year’s Take Our Daughters to Work Day.
The US website says that more than two million children a year join the event internationally. “My great concern is not whether men will appreciate women’s work but whether women believe in themselves and vote for women. The way things are, women do not vote for women. But the truth is we women are equal, rivals to men at everything,” Demetriades said.
She believes that women in Cyprus have been brought up in, and still live in, a patriarchal society and things cannot change overnight. “But women should take more initiative, try and participate in more important projects and, most importantly, work collectively and support each other.
“Some just sit back and take life for granted. If more pressure groups work together and harder, also involving parents and teachers we could make a change,” Demetriades said.
