‘Urgent improvement’ needed for gender equality

Gender equality commissioner Josie Christodoulou has told ministerial representatives that equality issues “require urgent improvement” but commended the importance the government has placed on the issues in question.

Christodoulou told representatives of all of the ministries and deputy ministries on Monday that reducing inequality between women and men is a “high priority” for the government.

She made reference to a pair of studies conducted into gender equality worldwide and in the European Union, pointing out that the Global Gender Gap Report placed Cyprus 106th out of 146 countries studied, while the Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality ranked Cyprus 22nd out of 27 EU member states.

She said that a raft of “targeted and implementable actions” will be brought forward by the government and claimed that they will bring substantial changes to consolidate a culture of gender equality.

In addition, she said she felt “great satisfaction” with meetings she has held so far with ministers and deputy ministers while carrying out her role, and said that now is the time for turning words into actions.

She said that the planned actions to be undertaken by the government “should take into account the different characteristics and the different needs of men and women so that they respond to them more effectively and above all equally”.

The next meeting between Christodoulou and representatives of ministries and deputy ministries is set to take place in September.