Disy MP Annita Demetriou is proposing legislation criminalising sexism and sexist behaviour, Phileleftheros reports.
According to the explanatory report accompanying the draft bill, which is subject to the approval of the House of Representatives, the bill aims to deal with unacceptable phenomena which insult, isolate or promote discrimination against women based on the perception of the inferiority of women.
Under the bill, a person who intentionally exhibits or promotes sexism or sexist behaviour is guilty of an offence punishable with up to five years in jail and/or a fine of up to €10,000.
If the offence is committed by a legal entity, the penalty is a fine of up to €10,000. Moreover the court can order:
(a)Â Â the temporary exclusion of the entity from any public benefit or support for a specific time period and
(β)  the temporary prohibition for a specific time period of any commercial activity
The court’s jurisdiction also extends, under conditions to cases where sexism is exhibited through information technology.
Under the draft bill, sexist behaviour is defined as the public distribution, either through leaflets, other written material, images or other ways ideas or theories which insult, degrade, socially isolate, incite to hate or violence and end up in discrimination against a specific woman or specific group of women. It also covers the posting of data electronically with the aim of distributing the above ideas or theories online.
The draft bill also proposes the setting up a supervisory authority against sexism and sexist behaviour against women to develop actions and strategies to raise awareness.
