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Let me begin by welcoming you to the Presidential Palace and to tonight's event. An event that is not just symbolic, we are not just here to commemorate Women's Day, but it is also of substantial importance. This is because as a Government, from the very first moment, we have prioritised the issue of gender equality as one of our key and cross-cutting priorities. In this context, we are working on the implementation of specific - because we must speak specifically - political, targeted measures and actions, and I am particularly pleased that there are already tangible results, because this is the key issue, towards the reduction and elimination of gender inequalities.
The effective promotion of equality between women and men is one of the basic principles and values of the European Union. It has been enshrined in European law for decades and, according to the United Nations, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but also a prerequisite for a peaceful, sustainable, just and prosperous world. Moreover, the elimination of any discrimination between men and women is an essential ingredient for improving the daily lives of all of us, regardless of gender, and this is an aspect that needs to be further highlighted. We are here tonight for Women's Day. It is something important and I am glad. It was a concern that I have - next year we need to look at it more - it is not enough to talk about gender equality and be in front of an audience where the vast majority are women. We must have events, talk about gender equality and the majority in the audience must be men.
Today, International Women's Day, is undoubtedly a day of celebration and a reminder of women's timeless struggles to claim their rights. We commemorate the sacrifices and struggles made by women around the world to win the right to vote and be elected, to work on equal terms, to join trade unions, to participate in public life and so many other achievements that we all take for granted today, but which were by no means taken for granted then.
Despite the important steps taken over the years, we must, and this is the first thing we must do, be honest and admit that we have not yet achieved, I will not say full equality, but substantive equality. In this context, in an effort to strengthen, accelerate and more effectively promote gender equality, in practice and not in words - and here is a trap because it is a little fashionable to talk about equality, especially on 8 March, without actually doing things - the most important thing is to do actions and not to limit ourselves to words.
So tonight I want to be very specific about what we have done over these 12 months. In these 12 months of our governance we have already moved - it was one of our first actions at Cabinet level - to upgrade the role of the Gender Equality Commissioner and in this context, as a first step, we decided to establish the Office of the Commissioner and the institution of Gender Equality Officers in all Ministries and Deputy Ministries. Last week, the Cabinet of Ministers approved and in the next few days a bill will be submitted to Parliament - and I am sure it will be approved - which will establish the coordinating role of the Equality Commissioner and, by extension, her Office.
With regard to the participation and representation of women in decision-making centres, for the first time in the history of the Republic of Cyprus we have achieved the highest ever participation of women, especially in the composition of the Council of Ministers, which stands at 39%.
For the first time in the history of the Republic of Cyprus, we have achieved the highest ever participation of women, especially in the composition of the Council of Ministers, which stands at 39%. In the Boards of Directors of the Semi-State Organisations, which were appointed for the first time through the innovative procedure of the Advisory Council, the percentage of participation of women in the positions of Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen has reached 40%. This is a result of the framework of the guidelines we gave to the Advisory Council. There is a need, always on the basis of competence, for equal representation of men and women in the Councils, despite the fact - I want to mention this, it is important and it is the message I want to give tonight in relation to the actions we are promoting - that the applications submitted by gender were 25% from women and 75% from men. And if we really want to help on the issue of gender equality, keep those percentages, I'll comment on them later, because they are the ones we need to reverse.
At the same time, in the direction of creating a gender-friendly environment, last month all members of the Government, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Commissioners, including myself of course, signed a "Policy Statement" on zero tolerance of sexist and harassing behaviour. I have to say that tonight is the first time, apart from Wednesday when we have a Cabinet meeting, that I have seen all the Ministers gathered together and I am delighted to see them en masse at the event. There is no clearer indication of how they are approaching this issue.
This groundbreaking and institutional declaration of particular significance, among other things, highlights our political will to accelerate the promotion of gender equality and to establish a culture of gender equality at the level of Government and the Civil Service.
In addition to what I have mentioned above and what the Commissioner has mentioned, targeted actions and policies are being promoted in parallel in order to deconstruct gender stereotypes and prejudices, which I consider to be one of the most important objectives. Deconstructing stereotypes is a matter of culture and education, and it starts in schools, in the family, in the generations that we want to shape for a better tomorrow. In this context, the competent Minister for Education, Sport and Youth is already taking a series of actions in this direction to address this distortion.
At the same time - and here, for me, is the big bet - we have taken specific actions aimed at strengthening the reconciliation of personal, family and professional life. This is the most important aspect, it touches on stereotypes, it touches on prejudice.
These days we had the honour of having in Cyprus the President of the European Commission, who is a mother of seven children, a successful doctor. She was a successful Family Minister and Defence Minister in Germany, all of which led her to assume the Presidency of the European Commission. And she has mentioned to me that after the second child they chose to move to the United States because her husband was going to attend a graduate programme. Whereas after the second child in Germany she encountered several difficulties, she felt that she had to stop being a full-time doctor, she had to work part-time. When they went to the US with the conditions, the data they found, she realized that she could at the same time be a full-time doctor and have more children. She had two more children there, and when they came back to Germany, when she took over as Minister of Family Affairs, one of her main goals, which she achieved, was that of reconciling work and family life. So, if we want to achieve something during our administration, and this is where we are focusing, is to create the conditions for reconciling work and family life.
And I come back to the interest rates in the Advisory Council. 25% women and 75% men. Why? Because we have not offered women the conditions, the data to express interest in these semi-governmental organisations. Because a woman has many more roles. And we have to take this fact into account to make it easier for her to be able to express interest herself. That is why we have tabled a specific legislative proposal to gradually extend compulsory pre-primary education from the age of 4. We are also moving forward with practical support for working parents by increasing maternity leave, extending parental leave and strengthening paternity leave. Because fathers also have a responsibility to raise their children.
It is with great sincere pleasure that I have signed the relevant legislation to increase maternity leave for the first child to five and a half months. A right that can be used by some 5,500 thousand women, which includes new mothers who have recently had a child and have not yet returned to work. The increase in maternity leave will allow new working mothers to remain close to their children for a longer period of time during the first very important months of their lives. Therefore, in order to address the phenomenon of stereotypes that our society creates, following a holistic approach, we are also creating structures for children, the elderly and people with disabilities. And I am glad that the Minister of Finance does not approach this issue from an economic dimension, but from a social dimension, which is the most important one.
Specifically, within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, we are proceeding with the creation of new social care structures and the expansion of existing structures, thus strengthening the welfare state and promoting social inclusion and well-being in practice.
In the same context, the creation of new and the upgrading and expansion of existing Multipurpose Centres for Children, as well as special Child Care Centres, are also being launched. By the end of the year, 11 new structures and two 24-hour Care Centres for adults with long-term care needs are expected to be completed.
We are also developing for the first time a Residential Subsidy Scheme for Residential Care Homes for the Elderly. The Minister of State for Welfare has committed that by the end of the first half of 2024 we will announce it.
At the same time, listening to the concerns of single-parent families and responding to their long-standing request on the issue of cohabitation, we are working on amending the legislation so that the income of the cohabiting partner is not taken into account in the payment of the single-parent allowance. This is a fair request in the direction of modernising the existing legislation, in a way that it meets modern standards, the needs and the well-being of single-parent families.
At the same time, implementing my pre-election promises to further support the family, including families with three or more children, we have proceeded in the first 12 months of our government, among other things, with the following:
- Increase of the Honorary Multiparent Mother's Allowance for all income categories.
- Granting of a one-off summer allowance for the year 2023 to families entitled to the child allowance with three or more dependent children, regardless of the level of income.
- Granting of a one-off summer allowance for the year 2023 to families entitled to the child allowance with three or more dependent children, regardless of the level of income. A total of 25,000 children benefited from the decision.
- Extension, from the 2023-2024 school year, of the Tuition and Feeding Subsidy Plan for Children up to age 4 to cover all Child Benefit recipients.
- Extension, from the 2023-2024 school year, of the Tuition and Feeding Subsidy Plan for Children up to age 4 to cover all Child Benefit recipients. With this decision, beneficiaries increased by 40% compared to last year, resulting in approximately 10,500 children attending private and community kindergartens this year with a state subsidy.
- A 5% increase in the Child Benefit, gradually reinstating the 9% cut-off that occurred in 2013, with the aim of fully reinstating the benefit. This decision will benefit around 60,000 fellow citizens, including large families.
- Inclusion of students of large families in the Child Benefit, with the payment of 50% of the Child Benefit. This decision will benefit around 4,000 families.
- Support for single-parent families with a lump sum of up to 250 euros and an additional 100 euros for single-parent families with more than 4 dependants, based on property and income criteria. The decision benefits 3 400 families.
- On the basis of the same decision, support for families entitled to the Child Benefit of up to 250 euro and an additional 100 euro for families with more than 4 dependants, on the basis of income and property criteria. The decision benefits 6,200 families.
Our aim, with everything I have just mentioned, is not only to enable women to simply express their potential and interests through an allowance policy. That is not our aim. Subsidy policies, especially horizontal ones, do not solve problems. Our aim, and this is where we are concentrating, and this is the most important thing for us, is to move forward with permanent solutions through substantial reforms, some of which I have already mentioned, in order to make it genuinely easier for women to reconcile work and family life. In other words, to create the conditions so that women, as they would really like to but are unable to do, take an interest in participating in the decision-making process in the political, social and cultural life of the country.
Another issue we want to address is the pay gap between men and women. In order to reduce this gap, processes have already started to transpose the EU Directive on pay transparency and its enforcement mechanisms into national law. This is a fact, as the gender statistics of last May also show, which leads to the fact that it is women who are in the majority unemployed or inactive or in part-time employment. In this context, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, making use of the European Social Fund, is proceeding during the year to strengthen female employment through special incentive schemes for the recruitment of inactive and/or unemployed women under flexible arrangements.
Another issue that we are particularly concerned about, and we have studied what is being followed at the European level, is the increased care that women need during pregnancy and postpartum. To address this issue we are strengthening the Community Midwifery/Midwifery at Home Project, i.e. the provision of midwifery care at home, including of course women in remote areas, who have fewer options when they have such needs.
Referring to remote areas and in the context of integrating the gender dimension into our agricultural policy - we have a female Minister of Agriculture, the first in the history of the Republic - but also recognizing the contribution of rural women Specifically.
- We also organise specialised workshops on women's entrepreneurship in the countryside, while
- Using funding from the European Union, we are proceeding with the creation of financial education programmes for rural women, and also with the creation of digital education programmes for them.
A very sensitive issue that concerns us very strongly is that of violence against women, which is a tragic, unacceptable reality.
A very sensitive issue that concerns us very strongly is that of violence against women, which is a tragic, unacceptable reality. I remember the statistics during the coronavirus that had risen sharply in our country and the increase continues. Therefore, in order to effectively address this serious issue, we are moving forward with the implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan for the Prevention and Response to Violence against Women. Within the first half of 2024, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, the training of 75 frontline Health Officers involved in handling cases of gender-based violence is planned, aiming at the timely identification and treatment of such unacceptable incidents.
On the same subject, it is also important to mention that since July 2023, the "NIMA" centre has been operating with great success.
On the same subject, it is also important to mention that since July 2023, the "NIMA" centre has been operating with great success. We are lucky for this. It is a project launched by a decision of the previous government and it is the first structure in Cyprus that provides specialized support and treatment services to adults, both men and women, who experienced sexual abuse or exploitation during their childhood, as well as to family members or members of the victim's wider supportive environment.
On the issue of violence against women, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order in cooperation with the Office of the Commissioner is proceeding in parallel with an information At last year's event, we announced the establishment of ten scholarships for women in memory of Christiana Kouta, who fought over the years through her action to combat all the problems arising from this issue. Last year we decided that the scholarships would be granted for studies in the STEAM sector.
This year, since we found that women are under-represented in the blue professions and since the participation of women in shipping is one of the priorities of our National Strategy, I am announcing ten scholarships for women in the maritime professions in general.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that addressing gender discrimination is the responsibility of all of us, especially men, and requires a collective effort to promote gender equality. It is incumbent upon us as a Government, as well as each and every official individually, to be daily role models for the cultivation and for the promotion and foundation of equality, and to work with concrete planning in this direction.
From our side, from the Government's side, as I have briefly presented tonight, and it is also within the framework of our people-centred approach, what characterises all our actions and what we have implemented so far, is primarily to create the conditions through our policies so that women can express their full potential and interests.
(RM/GC/NZ/EP)
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