Women’s employment advancement in public and political life

A 2007 study looked at the working lives of women in key public sector posts in Cyprus, as well as female entrepreneurs and other prominent women. Based on in-depth interviews with a number of such women, the study gives an overview of the position of women in political, economic and social life. Inhibitors to women’s advancement in public life are cited, along with factors that encourage and support women in their efforts to distinguish themselves in their areas of expertise.

Women and work in Cyprus

The study, Outline of the profile of women holding key positions in the public life of Cyprus (in Greek, 2.78Mb PDF), was conducted in 2007 by Ioanna Pilavaki-Achilleos as part of the postgraduate programme on ‘Gender and new educational and work enterprises in the information society’ of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Aegean in Rhodes.

Ten semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with women who are active in politics, trade unions, women’s entrepreneurship and women’s organisations in Cyprus. These women provided answers to why there is low participation of women in political, social and economic life in the country.

The interviews made it clear that, although Cyprus has traditionally been a male-dominated society characterised by gender stereotypes, important progress has been made in recent decades in women’s participation in employment and public life.

The study found a strong concentration of women in specific occupations and sectors, mainly involving the wholesale and retail trade, and unskilled work. According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2009 (in Greek and English, 5.51Mb PDF) carried out by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT), the employment rate for women in 2009 was 53.4% compared with 68.9% for men.

The study reveals that women are paid less than men, especially in low-skilled occupations. The wage gap in 2004 was 23.8% primarily because women appear to be a small minority in top management positions, even though some steps have been taken to promote the introduction of quotas for women’s advancement to senior management. The participation of Cypriot women in the decision-making process is also limited.

Factors holding women back

The findings from the interviews indicated that the most important factors preventing women from advancing in their job are as follows.

• The views and mentalities of Cypriot society (including women and men) on the roles of the sexes in family and in society as a whole support the existence of separate occupations for men and women, as well as the belief that childrearing and other domestic tasks are women’s duties. Women are concentrated in specific production sectors and in a small number of occupations where the wages are low. Women with tertiary education are concentrated in the public sector where the working time arrangements allow them to raise children alongside work, and they have no time to invest in advancing their career. Traditional female occupations are those of housekeeper, secretary, clerk, sales assistant, typist and in general low-qualified and low-skilled occupations. According to the LFS 2009, only 11.6% of professionals are women and 43.9% of women are employed as clerks and service/sales workers.
• Reconciliation of family and work responsibilities is another key factor. Work–life balance is very difficult to achieve for women in Cyprus because support from their partner, the family and the state is minimal or non-existent in most cases.
• The school environment in primary and secondary education has cultivated and reproduced traditional social roles for men and women. Despite efforts in recent years to change school textbooks so that they show men and women on an equal footing, the views of the teachers themselves are not always very helpful in changing this situation.
• The absence of balanced participation of women in public life due to strong competition with men is a hindrance, as well as the views of the women themselves. Since they carry with them centuries-old mentalities and stereotypes, many women do not trust women in politics. Moreover, there is a prevailing view that politics is the province of men because men have always predominated in the public arena.
• The mechanisms available to monitor gender equality are ineffective. There is insufficient political will to strengthen gender equality in Cypriot society, beyond merely passing legislation that is mainly imposed by the European Union.

Determining factors of success

The study identified a number of common external and internal factors that helped women advance in their careers and equipped them with characteristics which helped them not just to overcome the obstacles they encountered but to distinguish themselves in their area of expertise.

The following were cited as external factors:

• being an author;
• active participation in a political party;
• active involvement in women’s and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs);
• making their career a priority;
• university education;
• social setting (family, school and work environment).

Internal factors are multidimensional since they are divided into psychological, environmental, organisational, individual and emotional. The table below shows the distribution by category of factors that have a positive effect on support of women.

Increasing gender equality

Based on the study’s findings, the author proposed that certain measures should be adopted in order to gradually bring about gender equality in Cyprus. For example, the government machinery should be mobilised so as to:

• integrate equality in all policies and programmes (gender mainstreaming);
• promote women in economic and business decision-making, as well as assuming positions of responsibility;
• encourage and support businesses in developing actions and plans that take the gender dimension into account along with the need for work–life balance.

Polina Stavrou, Cyprus Labour Institute (INEK/PEO)