The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) on Monday published its results on the Gender Equality Index for the year 2022.
In Cyprus, the gender equality index rose from 57% in 2021 to 57.3%. Cyprus, according to a press release by the Office of the Commissioner for Gender Equality, ranks 22nd in the Gender Equality Index. Its score is 11.3 points lower than that of the EU.
The Gender Equality Index is a comprehensive measure to track progress on gender equality in the EU over time. It gives more visibility to areas that need improvement and supports policy makers to design more effective measures for gender equality.
The average gender equality in the EU rose to 68.6% from 68% in 2021.
Since 2010, Cyprus’ score has increased its ranking by 8.3 points, mainly due to improvements in the power sector (+ 14.7 points). The speed of its progress was above the EU average (5.5 points), moving it up four places in the ranking. However, Cyprus’ score remains essentially unchanged (+ 0.3 points) from 2019. The marginal increase in the overall score since the last edition of the Index is mainly due to improvements in the information sector (+ 1.8 points).
According to the analysis of the European Gender Equality Index 2022, Cyprus ranks 13th among the member states in the money sector, with a score of 83.1 points. The country performs best in the economic situation sub-domain, where it ranks 12th with a score of 91.7 points. Since 2019, Cyprus’ money score has remained stagnant (+0.5 points). During this period, progress in the financial situation sub-sector (+ 1.9 points) was offset by a decline in the financial resources sub-sector (- 0.8 points).
Gender disparities are sharper in the power sector (30.1 points), where Cyprus ranks 24th. With a score of 22.8 points, the greatest room for improvement exists in the sub-sector of economic decision-making, where Cyprus has a score of 22.8 points and is ranked 24th.
However, despite the highest score (34.6 points), in the sub-sector of political decision-making the country occupies the lowest position (26th). The general stagnation of the country in recent years (+ 0.1 points from 2019) is mainly due to the regression in the social decision-making sub-sector (- 2.0 points), which has canceled out the improvements in the political decision-making sub-sector (+ 2.3 units).
Since 2019, Cyprus’s score has improved the most in the field of knowledge (+1.8 points), marking the largest increase among all member states.
As a result, the country rose six places in the ranking, currently occupying the 15th place. This improvement is mainly due to the reduction of exclusion in education, which resulted in an increase in the score in this sub-sector (+ 2.6 points) and an improvement in the ranking of Cyprus from 26th to 20th place.
In its press release the office of the Commissioner for gender equality in Cyprus notes that balanced participation in decision-making positions and professional empowerment of women, reconciliation of professional and family obligations remain among the top priorities at national level and are key priority objectives in the new National Action Plan 2019-2023 for gender equality.
It is underlined that the biggest challenge is not to wait 60 years to reach full equality between men and women, but to continue and strengthen the policies for full equality so that we can reach the desired results faster.
Source: Cyprus News Agency