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- Ελληνικά
I welcome you to today's press conference, which kicks off a series of campaigns entitled Women's Stories. The first, our Women's Stories campaign today, which is being run in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth, the State Ministry of Research and Innovation and, of course, the Press and Information Office, is about promoting and promoting role models of women in STEAM careers, that is, those related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. I should mention that it is an online campaign, which will also be sent to our schools for information.
Why women's stories? Since taking office I have participated in many events such as "women and maths", "women and shipping", "women, peace and security", among others. The common thread we have identified in these very different themes is that women need space, and a voice, to tell their own stories. This is how the title Women's Stories came about.
As for why we need more women in these professions, according to data from the European Institute for Gender Equality, only 4% of women work in STEAM professions, compared to 27% of men.
There are no exact figures for Cyprus, but in terms of women's participation in STEAM professions, our country ranks among the lowest in the European Union. According to EU data and statistics, the number of jobs in the STEAM sectors, especially in technology-related occupations, will increase by 8%. This increase is much higher than the average need for all other occupations in the future. It is, after all, well known that technology-related occupations are in high demand relative to employment, with the result that wages will be higher both in the present and, by all indications, in the future. What should, however, be of concern is that, in this promising outlook, these professions are attracting more men than women. The reasons, according to studies, are not men's genetic predisposition, but stereotypes and traditional anachronistic perceptions that prevent women from choosing these professions. Deep-rooted prejudices, sometimes conscious, sometimes subconscious, want women to take on multiple roles: mother, daughter, wife, worker, carer, and men to have only one role: the worker, the financial carrier of the household. There is still a tendency to predetermine the future of our children before they are even born, based on stereotypical social roles.
That is, as soon as the gender of our child is known, we prepare pink and blue rooms respectively and reinforce our girls with toys such as dolls and kitchenettes (mommies and housewives) and our boys with little soldiers and cars (the tough one, the fighter).
In this way we reinforce specific abilities, skills and roles of the emotional and sensitive woman and the hard-working, "tough" man, promoting and perpetuating stereotypes. This results in the disproportionate over-representation of men, in high-paying professions of the future.
All the above at a time when in our country more girls are excelling than boys, more women are graduating from higher education than men, so there are certainly many deserving women among us, while at the same time many are working part-time, or are paid less than men and/or there are no opportunities for advancement.
At the same time, friends, I want to be clear: This is not a competition between women and men. We want men to graduate with an equal degree, master's degree, doctorate and to participate, of course, in the labour market in STEAM professions and in any field they wish. But we also want women to be able to have the choice to freely pursue any career they wish. We need and want balanced participation in STEAM professions.
We want balanced participation because, when we design policies, make decisions and take actions, there is a differential impact on both sexes. So we need to integrate the gender dimension when designing policies and actions for an equal positive impact.
One example that I will not tire of mentioning at every opportunity is the fact that in the automotive industry, a predominantly male-dominated field, during the airbag manufacturing period, the mannequins used for testing were set to a male body type so that, in case of accidents with female drivers, they lost their lives. Perhaps this would not have happened if there had been female representation in the automotive industry.
The Bletchley Park code-breaking operation during World War II employed 100,000 people, 75% of whom were women. However, these women were not formally recognised as analysts like their male counterparts. In fact, they were asked to describe their job as secretarial support.
But when we talk about equal representation, we should not only look at it quantitatively but also substantively. Quantitatively we create images and models. Essentially, women bring to the decision-making process a different perspective that may reflect the needs of the other 50% of the population.
Friends,
Gender equality is high on the priorities of the Government of Nicos Christodoulides and a new effort is being made to design holistic approaches, through the integration of the gender dimension in Government policies, horizontally, in actions, measures and policies of all ministries and sub-ministries. A holistic approach does not mean promoting more women or men in a profession. That is piecemeal.
Holistic approach, to speak practically, means that today, through this action, we are promoting models of women in STEAM professions, while at the same time, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, we are starting to work in the education system even more intensively, through the integration of gender equality in educational programmes, but also through the training of vocational guidance counsellors, so that they can advise our children on the basis of their abilities and not our own personal perceptions and subconscious bias. The aim is to deconstruct stereotypical perceptions so that, I repeat, our children are guided on the basis of their abilities and not on the basis of stereotypes based on their gender.
Also, one of the first acts of the President of the Republic last March, at the initiative of our Office and in cooperation with the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation, was the establishment of 10 scholarships for women over 30 who did not have the opportunity to study earlier for various reasons. The scholarships, for this year, will be granted for the areas related to STEAM professions.
In cooperation with the State Ministry of Research and Innovation, this is only the first of a series of joint actions that we are planning, since research, technology and innovation is about women and men.
Thanks again to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the State Ministry of Research and Innovation and the Press and Information Office for working together to make the first online information campaign with female role models, "Women's Stories in STEAM Professions" a reality.
On behalf of all of us, we express our thanks to the female role models involved in our campaign. Eleonora Kaiser (Astrophysicist), Panagiota Polycarpou (Social Entrepreneur), Anastasia Liopetritis (Social Entrepreneur), Maria Solomou (Business Consultant), Monica Polemitis (Business Consultant), Vassilya Taramunda (Postdoctoral Researcher), Christina Siaila (Educational Technologist), Margarita Zachariou (Neuroscientist), Charitini Tsaggari (Academic Statistician), Athena Cassiou (Director), Magdalena Zira (Director), Nadi Antoniadou (Actress) and Elena Georgiou Strouthou (Computer Engineer).
I close with what Marian Wright Edelman said "You cannot be what you do not see".
(MB/SX)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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