Rationale

Objective

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The project benefits working women and aims to organize and implement actions that will establish harmonization between carrier and family life. In particular, the project focuses on the reconciliation of professional and family life of women employees, in an attempt:

 to investigate the reasoning behind its consideration as a major problem in terms of business development,
 to design and implement a strategy which will convert this problem to a competitive advantage for the development of companies of the private sector.

In order to enhance the thorough understanding of the aforesaid issue and the complicated reality it represents, a field research is introduced for the record and evaluation of the relative public policy, legislative framework and professional practices in Cyprus. Through a cost – benefit approach, the research intends to investigate how women’s engagement in family and motherhood duties prevents them from achieving their professional goals and reaching and exceeding their limits in their carriers. It, however, will give special emphasis to the identification of the factors that influence decision makers in private companies regarding the employment, promotion or sack of women employees. The research will also record and evaluate best practices from developed European countries and consider their adaptation in the Cypriot environment.

Having understood the dimensions of the problem as well as the necessary preconditions to be fulfilled so as to effectively deal with it, the project will introduce suitable actions. These actions include consultancy support to private companies so as to familiarize Directors of Human Resources Departments with the possible advantages involved in the efficient combination of family and professional lives of their personnel and encourage them to act towards this direction. For this purpose, the project will provide knowledge and methodological tools which will enable decision makers to design effective action plans. The project will also give special attention, promote and establish special awards for actions considered as exemplary in this field, in an attempt to motivate private companies and encourage a wide application of relative policies.

Special educational tools will be created and training programs will be implemented for employers as well as employees, in the framework of which participants will be familiarized with methods and actions that promote the harmonization between carrier and family life and benefit both parties. A wide campaign is also planned for the dissemination of information and the sensitization of Employers, Social Partners and public opinion.

The project will finally establish a network between Decision Makers of the Private Sector and Social Partners which will work on the promotion of suitable policies, practices and institutional changes as well as the enhancement of Social Dialogue procedures in this area.

Innovation

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The innovative character of the project focuses on: i) the holistic approach introduced in the applied development methodology, ii) elements of its content and iii) some of its end products.

From the point of view of structure and methodology, the project adopts a holistic approach. The issue of work and family reconciliation is viewed spherically, starting from the identification of the problem and its characteristics within the society of Cyprus, the pilot implementation of innovative activities that are characterized by the potential to be generally adopted, the organization of networking and awareness raising activities, and concluding with the enforcement of social dialogue for the implementation of the developed ideas.
From the point of view of the content, the project introduces several innovative elements such as the provision of consulting services to enterprises in order to promote the activities towards the reconciliation of work and family, the training of human resource managers aiming to the elimination of gender discrimination in the work market and the provision of equal opportunities to both men and women, and the promotion of the social dialogue through the development of a decision makers network, being supported by trade unions’ and employers’ representatives. The introduction of the “Program of Social Distinction” for enterprises and organizations that adopt practices towards the promotion of equal opportunities in the work environment, the establishment of “Support structures” through the pilot organization of a family-child support unit, and the development of a “Multi-players decision makers network” are indicative innovative anticipated end products of the project.

Budget Action 2

500 000 – 1 000 000 €

Beneficiaries

Empowerment

 With beneficiaries

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The direct beneficiaries of the project are: a) men and women employees with family obligations, b) women that have been away from work due to family obligations and/or women that have difficulties to re-enter the work market due to the lack of flexible working schedules, and c) companies and enterprises that wish to introduce new forms of working schedules in order to offer to their employees a more satisfied working environment aiming to the increase of their productivity.
The empowerment of these three target groups is possible only through their representativeness within the partnership. The structure of the current partnership is such that ensures this requirement. The employees are being represented through the Cyprus Workers’ Confederation (SEK), one of the largest trade unions in Cyprus, while the companies are being represented through the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB). Both organizations have key-roles in the design and implementation of the project, resulting in the indirect participation of the beneficiaries themselves. The enpowerment of the target groups is further enforced through the participation of the Cyprus Association of Family Affairs and the National Machinery for Women’s Rights, two organizations with strong involvement on issues related to equal rights between men and women. In addition, the foreseen activities of publicity, networking and awareness raising offer unique possibilities for direct involvement of the target group.

 Between national partners

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The empowerment within the partnership is being enforced through the management of the project and the distinct tasks of each of the participating organizations. The promoting organization (SEK) will have the overall responsibility of the project’s coordination. The tasks of the Project Coordinator (PC) will include the organization of the project, the introduction of the project’s work program, the control of the work packages so as to ensure no deviations from the work program of the project, the contact with the participating organizations and the responsible National Authority. The PC will be responsible for the establishment of a continuous flow of information to the participating organizations on the project’s evolution and achievements.
A Steering Committee (SC) will be established and the Project Coordinator will chair it. Members of the Committee will be the principle investigators (PI’s) of each of the participating organizations. The SC will be responsible for the assessment of the mutually agreed objectives of the project, the structure of the activities required to satisfy these objectives, the time management of the activities, the decision of corrective actions required under the light of the project’s results and/or unpredictable problems, and the introduction of a Quality Assurance plan. Such a plan will provide guidance on how to process the activities of each phase so that derivables are ready on time and comply with the set quality standards.
The PI’s will be assigned the task of the coordination of the activities within their own organization and will report back to the PC. They will be responsible for the communication of any change of the work program and/or decision of the SC to the working team of their organization, will prepare and submit to the PC the required technical reports at the end of each phase and will keep track of the financial aspects of the project related to their organization. Two fundamental aims of the SC will be the stimulation and establishment of team spirit within the partnership and the dissemination of the project’s results to the target group. The PI’s will be in close collaboration with the PC and will take part in all partnership meetings.

Transnationality

 Percentage of the budget for transnational activities

• 6.0%

 Transnational Co-operation Partnerships

Background

 Involvment in previous EU programmes

• Nobody involved in A&E

National Partners

Agreement Summary

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Rationale and Objectives

The three transnational partners (Equilibrio, Human Resources – Equal Opportunities and Pandora) consider that women have increased their participation in the productive process during the last years. The incorporation of women into the labour market has had, undoubtedly, positive effects in the national economies; it has provoked also that the market has created new opportunities and has become more permeable to women. But even though we can not doubt from these affirmations there is a need to point out that women are in a misbalance and unequal situation when comparing to men when accessing and progressing in the labour market.

The improvement of women access and integration in the labour market are insufficient as there are, as said above, still many elements of gender misbalance and gender segregation. When we talk about segregation and inequalities we can do it from the perspective of the women that have special difficulties on accessing to the labour market (women in risk of social and labour exclusion) and women that are inside the labour market but are in a clear disadvantage (horizontal and vertical segregation) in front of men. There are many reflects to exemplify that phenomenon: pay-gap between women and men, gender pyramidal structure of the labour market (women tend to occupy the lowest positions), conciliation of “family” and “labour” spheres, women tend to have less stability (contracting) than men, etc.

Women have a major participation in the retributive market but this do not imply a major quality in their employability. The labour market has been changing lately until constituting a gender division in the task force (there are many works associated to men and women, and most of the times the works with a better social relevance are occupied by men)

Methodology

As a consequence, the three partners propose the development of common methodology that can permit to determine the causes of the commented gender misbalanced situation, the segregation attending to the gender in the labour market and when accessing to the labour market (pay-gap, vertical segregation, conciliation, lack of stability, etc.) and, finally, the problems associated to women and the segregation inside the labour market and outside the labour market.
The transnational partnership elaborates the hypothesis that in the European society that advances towards the situation of full-employment and the improvement of the social and economic conditions of the citizens, in general, it is essential that women can have the same opportunities than men in the labour sphere, as right now they occupy the lowest positions and with worse conditions while they are vital towards the development and sustainability of the current economic model.

The methodology planned by the TCA has some common points of interest:

• Research and comparative analysis of the main problems concerning women segregation –in the labour market and women that wants to access the labour market-
• Creation of a Transnational Working Group
• Exchange of information on-line and in presence
• Parallel development and import/export or adaptation of innovative approaches
• Counseling and guidance
• Transnational Cooperation of the partners seeking for a common objective through the division of tasks
• A better knowledge through the interchange of personal and organizational experiences

Common Objectives

- Exchange of knowledge and data (state of the “art of knowledge”) in the fields of: a) legal framework as regards equality policies in public and private spheres and b) policies (in different levels: European, national and regional; and different sectors: private and public regarding gender discrimination (examples: segregation, “pay gap”, access to training/education, promotion, etc.).
- Utilization of human resources –specially female labour force: either women that are outside the labour market or have difficulties on accessing it and women that are inside the labour market and face difficulties on securing and promote their work position (horizontal segregation, acquisition of skills and competences, empowerment and self-management as regards their employability)
- Reduce gender gaps and support job desegregation
- Improve the situation of women (employed-unemployed) on the labour market
- Share innovative experiences and results from integrating disadvantaged women into the labour market by opening up new prospects of employment and implementing innovative methods
- Increase the use of gender mainstreaming in enterprises by implementing gender equality and desegregation policies
- Facilitate sharing of good practice and transferring lessons learnt to decision makers and practitioners
- Raise awareness in policy and practice as well as in the general public about the gender segregation dimension of inequalities on the labour market as well as of the way how to reduce it (e.g. via social and awareness campaigns)

Deliverables

- Transnational Guide -TG- (CD format) focused on policies, experiences and recommendations about gender segregation and gender inequality (accessing the labour market and inside the labour market). The TG will be edited in three languages: Greek-English-Spanish.
- Thematic tokens (internal use) focused on data gathered from each country.
- Diffusion and awareness campaigns using media platforms (for example: TV, radio and press) and other platforms created by the partners: web-site and an international virtual conference.
- Transnational website in three languages (Greek, Spanish and English), including:
* Periodical news (Every two months the news will be gathered and edited in a PDF file that will constitute a Quarterly Bulletin that will be sent to users of the web-site that demand it and to different organizations in a local, national and international level).
* Success stories of women in front of segregation processes in the labour market
* Database of events –conferences, seminars, courses, etc.- (in a national and international level)
* Database of European organizations, NGO and institutions in general that work in the field of women in risk of exclusion and segregation
* Resources and materials produced by the TCA (Thematic Report in English, Greek and Spanish

Cyprus Workers Confederation

Contact person(s)

Center for Social Research and Development

Contact person(s)

Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation

Contact person(s)

Cyprus Family Planning Association

Contact person(s)

Frederick Institute of Technology

Contact person(s)

Frederick Research Center

Contact person(s)

National Machinery for Women's Rights

Pandora

Rationale