Intervention by the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women
at an Inter-Parliamentary Meeting of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament
The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, Ms. Irini Charalambidou participated in the proceedings of the Inter-Parliamentary Meeting of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament (EP), in Brussels, on the gender dimension of energy poverty.
In her intervention, Ms. Charalambidou said first of all that the impact of pandemic COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have disproportionately affected women.
More specifically with regard to Cyprus, Ms. Charalambidou pointed out the limited influence of Cypriot women in the formulation and implementation of policies that affect all aspects of their lives. According to an impact assessment, Ms. Charalambidou said, the EU Wage Transparency Directive covers only 17% of workers in Cyprus and neither the National Minimum Wage, nor the Minimum Guaranteed Income, have eradicated working poverty in Cyprus. In addition, she pointed out that the findings of the Income and Living Conditions Survey show that Cypriot women are at greater risk of poverty and social exclusion. The majority of workers in temporary, precarious, low-paid and part-time jobs are women, the Cypriot councillor underlined.
Charalambidou stressed the urgent need for the implementation of recovery, education, employment, taxation and housing policies that take into account the gender dimension in order to effectively address the root causes of female poverty. Gender mainstreaming in our pension and social protection systems, setting decent minimum wages, combating stereotypes, addressing gender segregation in education and consequently in employment, and adopting targeted measures to eliminate precarious employment are of paramount importance to alleviate women's poverty, she concluded.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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