The European Commission with the contribution of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) promoted gender equality and celebrated women’s achievements during a bicommunal webinar entitled “Role of Women in Science” held on Wednesday, 9 March 2022, within the context of International Women’s Day. The event was also shared live on EU Infopoint Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ABBilgi/videos/1036193066933854

As part of the EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community, the EC has been supporting a series of activities and actions to strengthen the organisational capacities, outreach and impact in promoting and defending fundamental rights and women’s rights in particular.

In her opening remarks Judit Rozsa, Director for Coordination, Resources and Aid Programme at European Commission, DG Reform, emphasized that EU hope to be able to contribute to attracting more women to science-based careers, by encouraging future generations and continuing the good work for gender equality in Cyprus, the EU and beyond. She also added that in Cyprus, EU has just launched a bicommunal call specifically encouraging bicommunal scientific research projects and more information can be received through the Civic Space.

Across EU, women account for only 29% of PhD graduates in engineering, manufacturing, and construction sectors. They represent only 25% of self-employed professionals in technical professions such as science, engineering, or information and communication technologies. They are significantly under-represented among inventors, with only 10% of patent applications coming from women.

This event provided a platform for 12 valuable Cypriot women scientists in both communities who are part of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus team working in various scientific fields for inspiring young women and girls to explore different scientific fields while they found out about how women hold a light to the past in order to contribute to the future.

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) is a bi-communal body established in 1981 by the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities with the participation of the United Nations. CMP employs a bi-communal forensic team of more than 60 Cypriot archaeologists, anthropologists, and geneticists, who conduct excavations throughout the island and anthropological and genetic analyses of remains at the CMP Anthropological Laboratory. Unlike all the other women in workforce figures, at CMP 65% of the committee is made up of female scientists.