The Ambassador of Cyprus to Egypt, Polly Ioannou, addressed the issue of gender equality on the second day of the Top 50 Forum being held in Cairo, affirming that Cyprus has made progress in adopting recent legislation to promote gender equality, such as the law on femicide and the law on equal work and pay. However, she also pointed out to the persistent cultural barriers and stereotypes that hinder the full realisation of women's rights and potential in Cyprus. She noted that women are still underrepresented and face gaps in certain fields, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), security, and peacebuilding. Ioannou stressed the need to create more opportunities and incentives for women to pursue careers and leadership roles in these areas. She also presented Cyprus's national strategy of Gender Equality 2024–2026, which aims to gender mainstream all policies and actions of the government with the involvement of civil society and other stakeholders. She expressed her hope that the new strategy will help Cyprus achieve its goal of advancing gender equality and ensuring the full, equal, and meaningful participation of all women and girls, in all their diversity. Loannou emphasised the importance of working together and learning from each other's experiences and best practices to overcome the common challenges faced by women around the world.
