This is the wage gap between men and women in Cyprus

15 November 2022 marks the European Union's Equal Pay Day as a symbolic day to raise awareness and highlight the gender pay gap. Women in the EU still earn less than men on average for work of equal value. For every 1 euro that men earn, women earn 87 cents. In other words, women in the EU work for free in the last two months of the year.

According to the latest recorded figure, the pay gap between men and women in Cyprus amounts to 9%. So in Cyprus women earn 91 cents for every 1 euro that men earn.

Despite the fact that the position of women in social and professional life has improved, despite the fact that the participation rate of women in the labor market has increased significantly, wage differences remain entrenched. The Commissioner for Gender Equality Ms. Iosifina Antoniou emphasizes that the factors behind the wage gap between men and women are many and complex, while there are also many obstacles that continue to keep women's advancement at low levels.

These are found in the multiple roles that women have, such as the responsibility of caring for the family, children, elderly parents resulting in working on a part-time basis. They often work in lower paying fields while facing the problem of the "glass ceiling" and "sticky floor" in terms of their advancement. Progress on reducing and closing the pay gap remains slow.

In the National Action Plan for Equality between men and women 2019-2023 one of the seven main objectives is the professional empowerment of women and the reconciliation of work and family. At the same time, the following intermediate goals have been defined:

1) Combating harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace.

2) Strengthening the possibility of social partners to better deal with the problems faced by women in employment

3) Strengthening female entrepreneurship

4) Combating gender discrimination in the workplace

5) Reconciliation of professional and family obligations

6) Encouraging businesses to promote equal pay and gender equality in the workplace in general

7) Elimination of gender pay inequality.

Finally, Ms. Antoniou emphasizes that in order to bridge the pay gap between men and women for work of equal value, collective and effective cooperation of all involved bodies is needed, as well as further measures, policies and support structures that give women equal opportunities and in the professional their life.