Women’s Day event at the Presidential Palace

The University of Limassol was represented by the Director of the UoL Center for DEI, Dr Andri Hadjiandreou.

International Women’s Day serves as a benchmark for the achievements of women and girls in all areas of life and every corner of the globe. It is, at the same time, a call to action, involving boys and men alongside women and girls who are demanding fundamental human rights at personal cost, fighting for a better tomorrow and a more just and inclusive society. After all, the cause of human rights is a matter for all of us.

Gender discrimination, gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, structural injustices, and marginalization, since they harm the whole of society, are also a matter for everyone. The exclusion of women from the digital world, for example, has cost about $1 trillion in the GDP of low- and middle-income countries over the past decade. These costs could rise to $1.5 trillion by 2025, in the shadow of a lack of immediate and meaningful action at the government level.

We recognize, however, that these obstacles affect women first and worst. For example, while acknowledging the contribution of women and girls to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, the fact is that the pandemic has kept girls and women out of their schools and workplaces longer. While acknowledging their ideas, innovations, activism, and leadership in all walks of life, women’s full participation and leadership, promoting gender equality through technology and innovation, broadening pathways to education and equal opportunities for women and girls,  The growth of the female workforce in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the bridging of the digital divide, are just some indicative of how scandalously slow the case for gender equality is moving. In fact, in too many areas, women’s rights are steadily going backward.

Multiple economic crises, conflicts, ideological and religious fanaticism, as well as the rise of the far right, make women and girls even more vulnerable, condemning them to conditions of increasing poverty and violence and turning them into targets of abuse solely because of their gender.

The University of Limassol, having as a central axis the principle of gender equality, and realizing its role within society, provides quality education and a place of decent work for every woman, so that everyone can build the life they want, thus contributing to the creation of a fairer and more sustainable world, better for all citizens of the country.

International Women’s Day is a 365-day affair.

Commissioner for Gender Equality, Ms T. Christodoulou: “The whole issue of substantive equality between women and men should be framed on its proper basis – it is not a competition between women and men. Women are now in all spaces and as you often hear me say, women need space and voice. We continue to create conditions so that men and women can enjoy all their rights and reach their full potential away from stereotypes and prejudices.”

Centre for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

University of Limassol (UoL Center for DEI)

8 March 2024