A High-Level Conference on "Women for the Mediterranean" is taking place on Thursday and Friday in Nicosia, with Commissioner for Gender Equality, Josie Christodoulou, conveying her expectation that the forum will offer targeted conclusions, which will lead to the creation of a roadmap. In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency Christodoulou expresses hope that the roadmap that will be adopted at ministerial level will be implemented by the member states of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

The Conference is co-organised by the UfM with the Office of the Commissioner for Gender Equality, and is expected to be attended by Ministers, officials and representatives of international and multilateral organisations.

"This is a very important conference, because it will discuss on a high level, the issues concerning equality between women and men. We will take a look at what is happening in the Middle East and North African countries and see what the next steps are that member states should consider, in order to promote women's rights", said Christodoulou.

She stressed the importance of holding the conference in Nicosia, saying that, apparently Cyprus has a role to play in promoting equality between women and men, which, as she noted, can be seen through "the holistic approach of President Christodoulides' government".

Referring to the issues to be discussed at the Conference, she said that it will focus on 3+1 priorities. The first is on women's economic empowerment, "because it is clear now, in 2024, that women's rights are still not fully guaranteed, in any region" as she explained.

"We see that where women are empowered, societies and economies are empowered. In this direction, we want to discuss good practices, exchange policies and actions that can be adopted in different cultures, in different regions, to promote equality", she said.

She also called violence against women and girls - which is the second topic to be discussed at the conference - a "global scourge". "In Cyprus, as well as in the region on which the conference focuses, one in three women will be a victim of any form of violence at least once in their life", she said, noting that in her view the number is much higher, as not all incidents come to the surface.

Another issue that will be addressed at the Conference is gender and climate change. As Commissioner Christodoulou said, it seems that climate change affects women differently from men. "We will take a look at what those policies are”, she said, noting that they need to be “gendered policies” so that climate crisis will have the same and equal impact on women and men.

The fourth issue concerns how the media present gender equality issues, whether they promote stereotypes and prejudices and what their role should be in tackling or preventing violence and addressing all issues related to inequalities, the Commissioner went on.

"It's a chain. You can't discuss one issue without addressing the other. Through these conclusions, a roadmap for the member-states of the Union for the Mediterranean will be created, which should be adopted and followed later at ministerial level" she added.

Actions taken by the Cyprus government to promote gender equality

The government has already taken certain steps towards promoting gender equality, the Commissioner noted. She mentioned, among others, the extension of maternity leave to 22 weeks for the first child and the adoption of compulsory pre-school education from the age of four.

She also noted that the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, through the Recovery and Resilience Plan, has begun to create nursery structures and structures for the elderly and people with disabilities, noting that a total of 36 structures are planned to be built.

"At the same time, together, the Minister of Education and the Office of the Commissioner of Gender Equality, we are moving forward, on a daily basis, talking about deconstructing stereotypes and empowering women, so that, through holistic approaches, we can break stereotypes, create holistic structures to move towards a more equal participation of women and men in all areas of life."

Asked to comment on any improvements seen after one year of governance, she said that "a year later, we are seeing results", as a number of actions from the national strategy on gender equality have already begun to be implemented, noting that perhaps one of the most important actions to be implemented by the end of 2024 is gender budgeting. "We have requested technical support from the European Commission to enable us to integrate gender in the state budget and at the first stage it seems to have been pre-approved and we are awaiting for final approval to proceed with the signing of a contract to begin its implementation" she said.

“One year on, what we see, and what is also acknowledged by the people, is that we have given visibility into equality issues”, she noted, adding that “we want to deconstruct stereotypes and foster critical thinking among young people.”

Cypriot media progress on equality issues

The Commissioner noted that many positive steps have been taken in the Cypriot media regarding equality between women and men. She said that ten years ago, when a femicide took place, it was presented in a very stereotypical and sexist way, with headlines such as "he killed her because of love", "he was blinded by passion" etc, whereas now we see that when there is violence against women or a femicide, "the issue is presented as it is."

However, she said, there are still some media that treat these issues in stereotypical ways. Giving an example from sports, she said that last summer the women's football world championship was held "and I noticed that it was not covered at all by the media, neither on TV nor in the printed press. But when there was a case of sexual harassment against the team captain, involving a coach, the media were full with reports about the harassment."

She explained that "quite rightly" we need to inform people about harassment as a preventive measure, but at the same time, while failing to present these athletes as world champions, "we present women as victims, sending the message to younger women that if you get involved in sports, you are most likely to be a victim of harassment."

"There is still a way to go, but I think steps have been taken and our Office is open to partnerships, trainings, regarding sexist language and how women and men are portrayed in the media" she added.

The Opening Ceremony of the Conference will take place on Thursday afternoon and three round-table discussions will follow. On the morning of the same day a discussion with journalistswill take place on the role of Media on gender equality. Four more sessions will follow on Friday morning and afternoon. The Conference will be held in English, with interpretations in French and Arabic.