A look into gender equality in Cyprus: where we stand and where we’re failing
Cyprus has just been ranked last in the EU for gender equality. Not “in need of improvement,” last. The report does not reveal something new; it simply validates what women in Cyprus have been saying for far too long.
A score of 47.6 out of 100 places Cyprus last in Europe, exposing a system that consistently sidelines women. The Index assesses progress and gaps in seven key areas: violence, health, power, time, knowledge, money and work.
The report confirms what the lived reality has already shown:
- Women’s time is consumed by unpaid care and domestic work (27th out of 27th).
- Women’s knowledge pathways are limited by gendered expectations (26th out of 27th).
- Women’s power is restricted by political and institutional exclusion (26th out of 27th).
But one of the most revealing elements in the EIGE report is not the data itself, it’s the attitudes underpinning it. A notable share of men in Cyprus agree that:
- controlling a wife’s finances is acceptable,
- household tasks are “naturally” women’s responsibility,
- men earn more because their jobs are more demanding.
What is striking is how comfortably these views sit within a society that sees itself as modern and European. This is the cultural infrastructure of inequality. The quiet, casual misogyny that makes women’s lives heavier and men’s excuses stronger. When such views are widespread, they create a climate that is not always hostile in the explosive sense, but quietly restrictive. A climate where harassment is easier to dismiss, where safety concerns are downplayed, where women are expected to manage a level of vigilance men rarely have to think about. But once you start paying attention, the consequences reveal themselves everywhere:
- 1 in 3 women, over 15 years old, has experienced physical or sexual violence.
- 76% suffer health consequences after violence; the highest in the EU.
Women Are Unsafe Because Cyprus Is Comfortable With Their Silence
Cyprus keeps telling women to “speak up,” but according to EIGE, 26% of victims told no one, because women know they are doubted, they are judged, they are blamed, they are trivialised, and too often unprotected.
Fear grows in systems that show women, again and again, that their safety is negotiable.
Political Tokenism Will Not Change The Status Quo
Cyprus continues to operate as if women’s representation is optional, and then reacts with surprise when women feel unsafe on the street, unsafe in school, unsafe at work, unsafe at home. The link between women’s safety and women’s representation is not abstract. Violence thrives where women are excluded from power, and right now, women are nearly absent from the rooms where national priorities are shaped:
- 17% women ministers (and falling)
- 14% women in parliament
- 21% women in municipal assemblies
The harsh reality is that many of these numbers function more as tokenism than representation; a symbolic gesture that allows institutions to claim diversity without shifting any real power. Cyprus has mastered performative inclusion by electing just enough women to mute criticism, but not enough to influence outcomes. If even a fraction of the energy spent sustaining this illusion were redirected toward changing the status quo, Cyprus might not be sitting at the bottom of this report.
Equality on Paper or Safety in Practice
If Cyprus wants to rise from the bottom of Europe’s gender equality rankings, it must be willing to confront the uncomfortable truth that our current system concentrates most of its power in the hands of men. A society in which men hold the primary authority – politically, institutionally, and socially – is, by definition, a patriarchal one.
So instead of asking, “Why do women feel unsafe?” we should be asking, “Why do men still hold almost all the power?”
At RESET, we stand firm in our belief that real solutions can only come from those who live the reality. Safety will not come from campaigns made by men or slogans approved by male-dominated committees. Safety will come when women are represented equally in parliament, ministries, municipalities, and every institution that shapes daily life.
The 2025 Index is a demand for change of systems, because if nothing changes, Cyprus will continue to be a country where women’s safety is optional, and women feel it every day.
