Cyprus second-worst in EU for workplace gender equality

Cyprus is the second-worst country in the European Union regarding workplace gender equality, it was revealed on Monday.

According to a survey carried out by Swedish business website Finansvalp, Cyprus’ score for gender-equal workplace is a dismal 14.62 out of 50 – higher than only Hungary in the European Union.

The survey considered five parameters: the percentage of seats held by women in national parliaments, the percentage of seats held by women in national governments, the percentage of female board members, the percentage of female executives, and the percentage in median income between men and women.

Cyprus currently has just eight female MPs, a figure which works out at 14.3 per cent of all MPs. This figure is the second-lowest percentage in the EU, only marginally higher than lowest scorer Hungary’s percentage of 14.1 per cent.

Cyprus’ figure was also drastically lower than the next lowest scorer in the EU, Romania, where 19.4 per cent of MPs are women.

The island’s proportion of female members of the government paints a slightly rosier picture, with Cyprus in 20^th place across the EU. A total of 25 per cent of members of the Cypriot government are women.

This figure is higher than those of Greece, Poland, and Malta, among other EU countries.

However, Cyprus has the lowest proportion of female board members of any EU member state and is the only EU member state in which less than 10 per cent of the country’s board members are female.

Just 8.2 per cent of Cyprus’ board members are female, with the next-lowest proportion being in Hungary, where 10.5 per cent of the country’s board members are female.

On the other hand, Cyprus hit the relatively heady heights of 15^th place across the EU in terms of the country’s proportion of female executives.

A total of 21.1 per cent of executives working in Cyprus are female – a figure which sees the island rank higher than countries including Greece, Estonia, Spain, Italy, and Luxembourg.

Similarly, the island ranks joint 18^th with Sweden in terms of its gender pay gap, with a 6.08 per cent difference between Cyprus’ male and female median annual incomes.

Men in Cyprus earn an average of €18,399 per year, while women earn an average of €17,344 per year.

Cyprus’ gender pay gap as a percentage is proportionally smaller than those of countries including Finland, Italy, and all three Baltic states.

At the top of the EU’s scale, the country with the highest proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments is Sweden, where 46.6 per cent of MPs are women.

The highest per cent of seats held by women in a national government in the EU is found in Finland, where a whopping 72.4 per cent of cabinet members are female.

There are more female than male cabinet members in two other member states, Belgium and the Netherlands, while the split of male and female cabinet members in the French government is exactly equal.

France also has the highest share of female board members, with 46.1 per cent of board members in France being female, while Lithuania has the highest share of female executives, at 29.3 per cent.

Portugal is the only EU member state where the median income for women for women has surpassed the median income for men.

In terms of overall scores, Finland has the highest gender equal workplace score, with 36.86 out of 50. Portugal finds itself in second place, with a score of 36.09, with France’s score of 33.63 making up the top three.