Statements by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou after visiting working women and housewives in a supermarket

 

8 March 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The 8th March needs no special reminder because it is now a universally recognised international day on women’s rights. It was recognized and universally accepted due to the hard and from time to time bloody struggles waged by the women’s movement around the world and in Cyprus too. Ever since progressive women started to put women’s rights on society’s agenda, we have come a long way both globally and in Cyprus.

This does not mean that the problems have ceased to exist. On the contrary, there are a great many problems that exist both in modern societies and in a significant part of the world. Issues that were raised from the beginning in the struggles that are continuing. `

Modern societies have however put a lot of pressure on women here in Cyprus too. There are numerous problems which have been intensified because of the policies that have been pursued which have led to the dismantling of the welfare state and the downgrading of the rule of law. Statistics released by the United Nations Organisation show that even in the time of the pandemic and incarceration many problems have a female bias and affect women in particular. So the problems are there.

We always, as AKEL and as the People’s Movement of the Left, together with the progressive Women’s Movement of POGO and the other mass organisations of the Left, always organise a series of events, both symbolic and substantive in character and content, to mark the day and at the same time to underline the distance we still have to go to address the multiple problems that women face.

At the same time, I must say that AKEL and the People’s Movement does not limit itself to this day on 8 March to highlight the importance of addressing the problems women face and to stress the need for gender equality. It is an ongoing struggle, a daily struggle precisely to confront these problems, together with a range of other socio-economic problems.

Speaking of socio-economic problems, and precisely because you have seen that we have come to a supermarket to give some flowers on the occasion of International Women’s Day and to the working women and housewives who have come to shop today. There is often a discussion about the household budget. We call it the household basket. Shopping is not a job solely for women. It is the job of the household as a whole.

We are in the middle of a very difficult situation because of the price increases and high cost of living. This situation is partly caused by the sharp rise in the price of essential goods and basic materials worldwide. Price hikes occurred before the Russian invasion and before the war in Ukraine broke out. Now things will get even worse.

For that reason the government, albeit belatedly, has taken some steps with the measures announced. We believe that these aren’t sufficient. More needs to be done. At the same time, we need to discuss what will happen in Cyprus because of the situation in Ukraine, which affects us both directly and indirectly.

That’s why we have called on the President to convene the Council of Political Leaders. We are ready to attend and submit specific proposals and views on how we can – as far as possible – deal with both the price increases and the problems that will without doubt surface.

As we have said many times, and I will repeat it again, AKEL has every disposition and intention in these difficult times to make its own contribution towards tackling the problems.