Gender pay gap in Cyprus still a problem, Labour Minister says

Cyprus ranks 9th across the EU in relation to the gender pay gap, Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou said on Sunday noting that although there has been much improvement, there is no room for complacency.

In Cyprus, February 7 was chosen to mark equal pay between men and women, a symbolic date, the minister noted because a working woman would have to work until February 7 to make the same amount a man makes in one year (until December 31).

Although this year the pandemic has brought about very different conditions “we are allies in the fight of working women to ensure their income and at the same time balance their profession and family life,” Emilianidou said in a statement.

According the minister, the wage gap in Cyprus is at 10.4 per cent according to 2018 statistics, in comparison to the EU average of 14.1 per cent. In 2012, the wage gap in Cyprus was 15.6 per cent.

“This reduction does not allow for complacency but our continuing efforts to reduce the gap, with a greater goal or eradication the wage gap between men and women for the same work.”

Cyprus currently ranks 9th across the EU, Emilianidou added and said there would be an online information campaign running throughout February over the matter, while work will continue to eradicate inequality and discrimination.