Gender equality is a fundamental right, and a founding value of the EU under article 2 of the Treaty on European Union. Article 28 of the Cypriot Constitution of 1960 enshrines the principle of equal treatment and the prohibition of any form of direct and indirect discrimination based on gender. Nevertheless, at the EIGE (European Index for Gender Equality) 2022 Index, Cyprus scored just 57,3 on 1 to 100 score where a score of 100 would mean that a country had reached full equality between women and men. With a marginal increase of 0,3% from its 2021 ranking EU-wide, admittedly, Cyprus as a country has still a long way to go. A simple internet search at board of directors of key Cypriot governmental and semi-governmental organisations such as the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, or the Electricity Authority, the University of Cyprus or known listed companies, soon reveals just how underrepresented women are in decision-making positions.
Cypriot National Action Plans:
A number of National Action Plans (NAPs) have been implemented to address gender disparity, the most notable of which is the NAP on Equality between Women and Men (2019-2023). This represents the most significant policy document on gender equality in Cyprus as it addresses six key areas among them "decision-making" an area in which gender equality suffers considerably in Cyprus. With a score of 22.8 points, Cyprus ranks 24th in the EIGE index, EU-wide.
Legal framework:
Several laws have been enacted in Cyprus to address gender equality issues safeguarding mostly the health and safety of women1.
However, there is currently a lack of national legislation addressing gender equality in decision-making positions or political representation. In the past, political parties have introduced the quota system in their memoranda or constitutions, however, to this day the quotas are not provided pursuant to local laws. The NAP in its Chapter on the "Balanced Participation of Women and Men in Political/Social and Economic Life" introduces targets and quotas, as follows:
- 40% for the participation of women in political life;
- 30% for women in ballots in municipal, parliamentary and euro-parliamentary elections and
- 30% for women in the appointments in all public committees and boards.
To date, none of these quotas have been adopted by means of national law, contrary to Greece where, there is a one-third gender quota for the state-appointed portion of full or partially state-owned company boards. This requirement was implemented in Greece in September 2000 as part of the Greek Gender Equality Act.
In Cyprus, and despite the efforts of the National Machinery for the Advancement of Women, an organisation situated within the Cypriot Ministry of Justice and Public Order, there is just a wealth of guidance, well-intentions but a lack of laws that steer towards gender equality in all fields, but most importantly the boardroom.
In a recent development, our President-Elect Mr. Nicos Christodoulides, has announced, following his election that representation in his Cabinet of Ministers will be divided 50% women and 50% men, an announcement that has drawn considerable attention by all key stakeholders. At the time of drafting this article, his Cabinet of Ministers has just been announced, and although the 50%-50% was not reached, out of the 17 Ministers appointed, 6 of them are female.
The EU Directive on equal representation in Boards:
There's a notable scene in Steven Spielberg's film, The Post, where fictional character Arthur Parsons addresses the real character Katharine Graham (and owner of The Washington Post) saying, "Kay, people are concerned, about having a woman in charge of the paper. That she doesn't have the resolve to make the tough choices." And while this sums up the general perception of how professional women are viewed in Cyprus with regards to their appointment in key decision-making positions, it is sadly also reflected by the under-representation of our gender in governmental or semi-governmental organisations.
The EU Directive 2022/2381 of 23rd November 2022, passed aimed at improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies and related measures (the "Directive"). The Directive aims "to achieve a more balanced representation of women and men among the directors of listed companies by establishing effective measures that aim to accelerate progress towards gender balance". The objective under the Directive, is to ensure that listed companies are subject to either of the following objectives, to be reached by 30 June 2026:
- Members of the underrepresented sex hold at least 40% of non-executive director positions;
- Members of the underrepresented sex hold at least 33% of all director positions, including both executive and non-executive directors.
Member States are now, not only guided towards achieving gender equality in the boardrooms of listed companies, but they will also be held accountable if they fail to do so. Moreover, they are required to transpose the Directive into national laws, by 28 December 2024.
Member states will require listed companies to report to the competent authorities once a year about the gender representation on their boards, distinguishing between executive and non-executive directors and regarding the measures taken with a view to achieving the applicable objectives.
The way gender equality will be safeguarded as per the Directive, is through a series of rules on penalties on infringements by listed companies through national laws ensuring that adequate administrative or judicial procedures are available to defend the preservation of equality as necessary. Another positive development through the directive, is the requirement for designating national bodies for the promotion, analysis monitoring and support of gender balance on boards.
At present
Meryl Streep in The Post stumbles into the boardroom with her hands full of ring-binders and other documents where over a dozen men dominating the room discussing the decision of whether the Newspaper should list through an IPO. Despite this being a scene from a movie of the 1970s USA, it reflects the current Cypriot corporate world, where women rarely get a seat at the table. If and when they do, they have to overcome onerous hurdles just to be heard. While their male counterparts enjoy undivided attention, undiscriminated preference and higher remuneration often for less work than their female counterparts.
Under the Cypriot Companies Laws (for listed and private companies), directors owe fiduciary duties to the companies where they serve in the boards. Such duties include the duty of "good faith", the duty to avoid "conflicts of interest" and the duty to "act in the best interests of the company as a whole." Women are not only as well positioned as men to represent key interests in the boardrooms of listed companies, but may actually be more able to do so, when compared with their male counterparts. The reason is, the duties which our Companies Laws burden the directors with, the balance that the said laws strive to achieve, can easier be achieved when the frustration caused by gender discrimination, forms part of the collective experience and knowledge gained. And it is safe to say that professional women in Cyprus, qualified to represent listed companies and be members of their boards, have collectively felt such discrimination in Cyprus which makes them better suited to take those tough decisions that require balancing fiduciary duties with a Company's financial growth and profitability. The tough decisions that require careful balancing acts, the ones where economic and other risks require to be communicated, addressed or mitigated. It is for this reason that, when gender quotas are applied, no one is doing any woman a favour by giving her priority over her male counterpart. These laws, such as the Directive, are simply implementing a balance that will take over one hundred years for it to be achieved naturally.
Cypriot Media and their role
Media can play a very important role in challenging the norms in relation to gender and attitudes that foster gender inequality in the boardroom. Based on the most recent survey carried out by the Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies, for the Global Media Monitoring Project, 2019, women are severely underrepresented in the news media. It was reported that although women have an overall presence as news subjects, reporters and presenters, this presence only reaches 15% as compared to 85% men. This vast gender gap clearly demonstrates women's near invisibility in the media in Cyprus. This was never more evident than the first cross-channel presidential debate in Cyprus, that took place in November 2022, where the main four privately-owned Cypriot TV channels (Alpha TV Cyprus, Antenna, Sigma, and Omega) set up an all-male panel of eminent reporters to pose questions to the three main all-male presidential candidates (among them the President-elect Mr. Nicos Christodoulides). There was a total absence of women reporters in that panel, as well as any reference to women's issues both in terms of the questions asked or answers given. The situation improved marginally at the second cross-channel debate where a respected and experienced TV anchor (Mrs. Aimilia Kenevezou), was entrusted with leading the debate in the presence of another well-known reporter by Sigma TV. Still, even at that second presidential cross-channel debate, women, were but a minority.
The way ahead
It is evident that reaching gender equality in Cyprus will take time. But it will also require a holistic and intentional overhaul of all the key sectors that affect the underrepresented gender, including access to education, access to decision-making positions, a positive and true evolution of how women are perceived, think and portrayed in the media, and wider support in the process. Our male counterparts have a significant role to play in expediting gender equality, and educating our boys of how one gender compliments the other, is a safer route to reaching that equality. Women in the boardrooms should not be perceived as a threat to anyone's position but as a true form of diversity, that will enhance a Company's position against economic, or geopolitical threats and hurdles.
It is important for political parties, and the government to intentionally include and allow women to speak. It is equally important for women to intentionally use their right to speak, to promote their ideas acknowledging all the risks inherent in such exposure. Acknowledging also that it will take a long time before they will actually be heard or viewed for their true value. We have to ensure that our daughters are aware that "numerous studies have shown that diversity leads to a more proactive business model, more balanced decisions and enhanced professional standards on boards," as stated in the Directive. And more "that there is a positive relationship between gender diversity at top management level and a company's financial performance and profitability."
And as fiction reflects real life, Kay Graham's decision in the 1970s, to publish the Pentagon Papers in the midst of an IPO, at the risk of the paper's economic collapse, paid off. Her ability to weigh in all relevant factors, acknowledge emotion and balance it with reason referring to the IPO Prospectus' regulations placing the duty to keeping the public informed, at the top of a paper's priorities, ultimately paid off.
Women not only deserve a seat at the table, by 2023 they have earned it and they know very well what to do with it.
Footnotes
1 Combating of Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Beings and the Protection of Victims Law [L.87/(I)/2007, as amended;
Prevention and Combatting of Violence Against Women and Family Violence and Relevant Matters L.115(I)/2021;
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