THE government has outlined further steps it intends to take to improve women’s rights in line with the 1995 ‘Beijing Platform for Action’, which created worldwide standards and suggestions for governments to reduce gender discrimination.
The Cyprus authorities drew upon a variety of sources, including governmental departments, academic institutions, and NGOs, to create a report on gender inequality.
Inequality in the workplace persists, the report says, putting women at a disadvantage since they make up 38.85 per cent of the island’s active workforce. Women make up 54.41 per cent of the unemployed and 55.66 per cent of those who have stayed unemployed for more than six months.
There are also large salary differences, with an average monthly pay of £759 for men and £546 for women.
The report shows that differences in school enrolment by level of education is not significant, although women tend to pursue fields traditionally considered suitable for them such as teaching and secretarial work, rather than technical or vocational areas.
Some of the ways in which the government expects to achieve its goals include legal reform, increasing the role of women in public life, getting more women into the workforce, reconciling work and family responsibilities, and combatting domestic violence.
An anti-exploitation bill is now before the Attorney-general’s office for final consideration, an amendment bill to the law on Violence in the Family is before the House of Representatives, and in the field of family law, a series of amendment laws have been enacted to improve property rights for spouses.
The government report also acknowledges a very recent amendment of the Citizenship Law granting Cypriot women equal rights regarding the citizenship of their children.
It says President Glafcos Clerides, along with women’s organisations and political party leaders, have pledged to meet the goal of a minimum of 30 per cent representation of women in decision-making and politics before 2005.
Currently only three of the 56 Deputies in the House are women — about five per cent.
