Ambassador of Cyprus to Egypt, Polly Ioannou addressed the issue of gender equality on the second day of the Egyptian Women’s Summit in Cairo.
Cyprus has made progress in adopting recent legislation to promote gender equality, such as the law on femicide and the law on equal work and pay, Ambassador Ioannou said. However, she also pointed out to the persistent cultural barriers and stereotypes that hinder the full realisation of women’s rights and potential in Cyprus. She noted that women are still underrepresented and face gaps in certain fields, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), security, and peace-building.
Ambassador Ioannou stressed the need to create more opportunities and incentives for women to pursue careers and leadership roles in these areas.
She also presented Cyprus’s national strategy of Gender Equality 2024–2026, which targets gender mainstream all policies and actions of the government with the involvement of civil society and other stakeholders.
She expressed her hope that the new strategy would help Cyprus achieve its goal of advancing gender equality and ensuring the full, equal, and meaningful participation of all women and girls, in all their diversity.
The Cypriot ambassador emphasised the importance of working together and learning from each other’s experiences and best practices to overcome the common challenges faced by women around the world.
