|
On behalf of the President of the
Republic, I warmly congratulate the Cyprus Gender Budget Platform and Ms Mary
Pyrgou, for taking the initiative to organise this two-day European
conference. Such initiatives confirm the common aim to accelerate the efforts
towards gender equality. Public discussions and sharing experiences are
crucial elements of our common agenda.
The Cyprus Government has set
gender equality high on its priorities and since March 2023 we are working
hard, we are creating more synergies and collaboration as for me personally
it is of high importance that we keep the issue of gender equality on the
surface, but also through the formulation of targeted gendered
policies.
Toward this direction, our
office has been upgraded and now has a role in the drafting of the national
strategy, its coordination and monitoring. We are very well aware that
promoting gender equality and securing women’s human rights is vital for the
social and economic development of all democratic societies. Many important
steps have been taken in our country in the field of legislative and
institutional reform for gender equality as well as the formation of a policy
framework with the adoption of National Action Plans aimed at eliminating
discrimination and promoting the equality between men and women in various
sectors. Without a doubt, Cyprus accession to the European Union has played a
very important role on the road towards equality.
The harmonisation with the
European legislation secured many rights and improved the position of women.
Considerable progress has been made over the past few years. However,
the pandemic crisis including climate crisis has affected the progress in the
promotion of gender equality in specific areas, and in the overall
advancement of women’s rights. We all agree that there is still much work
left to be done, in order to ensure that women are in fact equal members of
society. The government is stepping up and has already started the
implementation of substantial policies and actions.
By decision of the Council of
Ministers, all Ministries and Deputy Ministries appointed equality officers,
and an Interministerial Committee was established presided by the
Commissioner for Gender Equality.
The Office of the Commissioner
for Gender Equality recognised the need to mainstream gender across the
board. A Ministerial Decision authorised the Office to draft, coordinate,
monitor and evaluate the new strategy for gender equality in cooperation with
all the ministries and deputy ministries.
The Strategy aims at a
horizontal gender mainstreaming in government policies. The new National
Strategy, which was approved by the Council of Ministers and entered into
force beginning of January 2024, includes different thematic areas and a
great number of actions and policies to be implemented by the government
within a period of three years, 2024-2026.
The new Strategy aims to
mainstream gender in public policies. That is an important tool in
order to achieve a culture and a socio-economic environment of gender
equality ensuring that the government’s decisions have an equal and positive
impact on both women’s and men’s everyday life.
In this respect, and in an
effort of holistic approaches, this cannot be achieved if we do not
mainstream gender in public finances. Gender budgeting is the tool to take us
forward. Gender budgeting is one of the most important aspects of the new
strategy. The government has already applied for technical support from the
Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission.
The final decision on the Cyprus’ application is expected in March. The
implementation of this reform is expected to be of great importance towards
the direction of achieving gender mainstreaming in our country.
At the same time, and as it is
well known, in order to put in place holistic gendered policies and actions
there is a need for the collection of sex-disaggregated data in order to
better understand the different needs of women and men but also to address
them. The Statistical Service issued the first Gendered Statistics
publication in June 2023 and an updated version is expected to be published
by the end of the year. Accurate sex-disaggregated data will assist the
government to mainstream gender in public finance, which in turn will assist
the implementation of targeted policies and measures.
Gender budgeting reforms in
combination with the collection of data will be helpful to further develop
and design even more impactful policies. Mainstreaming gender in the
budgetary process, means that each Ministry and Deputy Ministry should be in
position to budget and take into consideration the different needs of men and
women.
Gender budgeting reforms
together with the new structural efforts and the efforts in mainstreaming
horizontally in governmental policies will assist in closing the gender
inequalities gap.
Effective implementation of
gender budgeting requires political commitment, administrative commitment,
improved technical capacity, civil society involvement and sex-disaggregated
data. We are on our way there in order to achieve all the enabling conditions
to efficiently implement gender budgeting.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In closing, I would like to
underline that the government aims to work holistically with interrelated
actions in the whole spectrum of life in order to consolidate the culture of
gender equality.
In this direction, the
government, including of course our Office, is working closely with the civil
society, universities, the private and public sector in order to break down
and eliminate stereotypes and prejudices. The aim is one and it is clear: Gender
equality will only add so that we live in a healthier society and have a
stronger economy. Gender budgeting is a tool that takes into consideration
the unique and diverse needs of women and men and ensures a fair distribution
of resources.
(EP/NGian)
|
