Cyprus ranked 26th out of 28 EU member states for its share of women in parliament and government in 2018, according to a Eurostat report.
In 2018, the share of women in Cyprus’ Parliament was 18.2%, compared to the EU average of 29.9%.
The share of women in government was 16.7% and the EU average was 30.2%.
The EU average rose from 2003, when women accounted for about one-fifth (21%) of members in national parliaments.
In Cyprus, there were no women in government in 2003, while the share of women in parliament was 16.4%.
The share of men in national parliaments is still considerably higher across the EU as a whole. No EU country had more women than men holding seats in parliament.
The share of seats held by women in national parliaments varies considerably between EU countries. In 2018, Sweden had the highest share of women in its national parliament with 47%. Sweden was  followed by Finland (42%), Belgium and Spain (both 40%). A significant number of women also held seats in Austria (37%), Denmark and  Portugal (both 36%) and Italy (35%).
At the opposite end of the scale, women account for less than one-fifth of the national parliament members in Hungary (13%), Malta (15%), Cyprus and Greece (18%) and Romania (20%).
The share of female members of government (senior and junior ministers) in the EU increased from 23% in 2003 to 30% in 2018.
In 2018, the largest share of female members of government was recorded in Spain and Sweden (52%), followed by France (49%), the Netherlands (42%) and Denmark (41%).
At the bottom end of the scale, women accounted for less than one fifth of members of the government in Hungary (7%), Malta (12%), Cyprus, Italy and Poland (17.0%).
The number of female presidents and prime ministers in EU countries also rose over the period 2003 – 2018. In 2018, there were three female heads of government (11 %) whereas there were none in 2003. However, during this 15 year period, the share of female heads of government in the EU never exceeded 14%, meaning there were never more than four women in this position at the same time.
Members of government include both senior ministers (having a seat in the cabinet or council of ministers, including the prime minister) and junior ministers (not having a seat in the cabinet). In some countries state-secretaries (or the national equivalent) are considered as junior ministers within the government (with no seat in the cabinet) but in other countries they are not considered as members of the government.
The source dataset is accessible here.
Read more:
https://in-cyprus.com/cyprus-ranked-27th-in-eu-92nd-in-world-in-gender-equality-wef/
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