The Council of Ministers has approved a landmark bill titled “The Gender Mainstreaming Law of 2025,” a move the Equality Commissioner, Josie Christodoulou, hailed as another significant step toward genuine parity between women and men. Speaking after the Cabinet decision, Christodoulou framed the bill as part of a broader effort to bring Cyprus’s policymaking in line with what society expects from a modern state: independence of judgment, transparency in outcomes, and policies calibrated to the lived realities of all citizens.
At the heart of the legislation is a clear obligation: gender considerations must be built in from the start, not tacked on at the end. The bill requires that a gender perspective be integrated during the preparation of legislative initiatives, the drafting of the state budget, the conduct of public procurement, and the implementation of actions included in the National Strategy for Gender Equality. In practice, this means that every ministry, deputy ministry, service, authority and body across the wider public sector will need to design policies and programs with an explicit assessment of the different needs and circumstances of women and men.
Christodoulou underscored why this shift matters. When public institutions systematically take account of gendered realities, public policy becomes more responsive and effective, closing the gap between intent and impact. Embedding these obligations in law, she argued, accelerates Cyprus’s progress toward substantive, rather than merely formal, equality, ensuring that decisions about money, regulation and services are made with a full view of who benefits, who is left out, and how outcomes can be improved.
The Commissioner also expressed her appreciation for the collaboration that brought the bill to this point, thanking the Minister of Justice and Public Order, the Ministry’s equality officer, and the Commissioner for Legislation. Their coordination, she said, helped translate a principle, gender equality, into an operational framework the entire public sector can follow.
As the bill moves forward, its success will be measured not only by compliance but by results: whether children, families, workers and communities experience policies that better reflect their realities. For Christodoulou, that is the promise of the legislation, and the reason she calls this approval another important step on the path to genuine equality.
Source: CNA