In Cyprus, the gender equality index hardly moved from 57% in 2021 to 57.3%, with the country ranked 22 with a below-average EU score.
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) index is a comprehensive measure to track progress on gender issues in the EU over time.
It gives more visibility to areas that need improvement and supports policymakers in designing more effective measures for gender equality.
The average gender equality in the EU27 rose to 68.6% from 68% in 2021.
Since 2010, Cyprus’ score has increased 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 European Gender Equality Index 2022, Cyprus ranks 13 among the member states in the money sector, with 83.1 points.
The country performs best in the economic situation sub-domain, ranking 12th with 91.7 points.
Since 2019, Cyprus’ money score has remained stagnant (+0.5 points).
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 24.
With a score of 22.8 points, the greatest room for improvement exists in the sub-sector of economic decision-making, where Cyprus is ranked 24.
Despite the highest score (34.6 points), the country occupies the lowest position in the sub-sector of political decision-making (26).
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 cancelled out the improvements in the political decision-making sub-sector (+ 2.3 units).
Since 2019, Cyprus’ score has improved the most in the field of knowledge (+1.8 points), marking the largest increase among all EU states.
As a result, it rose six places in the ranking, currently 15th.
This improvement is mainly due to the reduction of exclusion in education, which increased the score in this sub-sector (+ 2.6 points) and improved the ranking of Cyprus from 26 to 20.
The Commissioner for gender equality office notes that balanced participation in decision-making positions, professional empowerment of women, and reconciliation of professional and family obligations remain among the national priorities and are key objectives.
“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,” said the Commissioner’s office.
