LESS THAN one in ten women in Cyprus hold top positions in business and government, according to figures released yesterday to mark Women’s Day today.
Women are still not present at the centres of decision-making power, something which is a fundamental problem in Cyprus, Justice Minister Loucas Louca said, repeating a theme heard often throughout the day from various quarters.
“The aim of equality of participation of the two sexes in the social life and workings of Cyprus is still very far away,” said Lia Kallidou, the President of the Cyprus Gender Equality Observatory Board at a public debate organised jointly by the European Commission with Strovolos Municipality.
In Cyprus, 9.7 per cent of the top positions in business are held by women, although this figure drops to only 3 per cent when the largest companies are considered. In government, women occupy 8 per cent of the highest decision-making roles with 90 per cent still held by men.
According to Kallidou, women are far more likely to encounter a ‘glass ceiling’ in their career progression as society is simply not structured to allow or expect women to rise to the highest managerial and decision-making positions.
This, in turn, produces a cyclical effect whereby women are kept away from decision-making positions, which leads to them not attaining any significant influence on the agendas of society’s institutions and corporations.
“The lack of equal pay, equal opportunities and access to decision-making positions and the pressure of stereotypical roles,” combine, according to Kallidou, to help produce the exclusion of women from significant social, economic and political influence.
“Cyprus, in fact, has the worst record: only 8.2 per cent of the highest decision-making roles are occupied by women – the only single-digit figure amongst the EU members states,” said Androulla Kaminara, the Head of the European Commission’s representation in Cyprus.
Kaminara said that today the average pay gap between men and women across the EU is 17.4 per cent. In Cyprus it stands at 23.1 per cent. Italy has the lowest pay gap between the sexes with a difference of only 4.4 per cent.
Sotiroula Charalambous, the Labour Minister, saw a role for women to play in strengthening the economic recovery. “Capitalisation upon the female work dynamic can positively strengthen the labour market, ensuring better rhythms of development and contributing even to the reduction of unemployment”. Charalambous did not, however, address the problem of equality in wages which, according to a number of other authorities who held events yesterday, is a more endemic problem and harder to address.
Marina Stavrinou-Koukou, the Secretary of the Women’s Department of PEO, the Cyprus Workers’ Federation, co-organised visits to workplaces in the north of the island to commemorate Women’s Day.
“The problem which working women face are worldwide the same,” she said. Stavrinou-Koukou noted that the Christofias government has involved itself “very heavily” in securing the rights of women, such as harmonisation of the legal structure regarding pregnancy leave, mothers’ rights and childcare and has introduced a series of other measures such as full-day school and buses to and from school.
“These may not seem too important but they are very useful to enable women to enter the workplace,” said Stavrinou-Koukou.
