Cyprus / Chypre (864) UNITWIN/ UNESCO Chairs Programme. Progress Report. Period of activity: September 2009 May 2010

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1 Cyprus / Chypre (864) UNITWIN/ UNESCO Chairs Programme Progress Report Period of activity: September 2009 May 2010 UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment Report established by: Prof Mary Koutselini, UNESCO Chairholder, University of Cyprus I. Activities 1. Education/ Training/ Research Education The UNESCO Chair has been supporting the undergraduate interdisciplinary and interdepartmental minor programme in Gender Studies at the Department of English Studies of the University of Cyprus. Objective: to contribute to the realization of the significant role of gender in the development of the historical, social and political reality; encourage equality between genders through the expansion of the political, ideological and social machinery of creating gender differences and evaluate the consequences on the creation of inequalities. Τhe programme includes gender-related courses in the following fields: English Studies Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies French Studies and Modern Languages Social and Political Sciences History and Archeology Education Department Classics and Philosophy Public and Business Administration Economics Turkish and Middle Eastern studies Psychology 1

2 Research DAPHNE III project: An indirect harmful effect of violence: Victimizing the child and Re-victimizing the woman-mother through her child s exposure to violence against herself (VI.C.T.I.MS), selected for co-funding by the European Commission (2008 DAPHNE III action grants). Duration: and it is expected to close in two years. Geographical coverage: Cyprus, Italy, Slovakia, Romania Target groups: mothers victims of violence and their children. Objective: to address the indirect harmful effect of violence against women-mothers upon their children if exposed to it in the domestic sphere and raise mothers awareness on that effect; to address the lack of research-based information on the issue as well as sensitization. The project contributes to the larger pattern of the current EU policy regarding the indirect harmful effect of violence against children. The gendered map of Cyprus Tertiary Education Duration: Geographical coverage: local Target groups: students and academic/administrative staff. Objective: Based on Action 2 of the National Action Plan for Gender Equality ( ), it aims to investigate record and critically present the qualitative and quantitative Gendered Map of Cyprus Tertiary Education. The project was also suggested for funding under the EU s TEMPUS Programme to be conducted at the international level. Specific objectives: a) Investigate the higher education gender map in the partner countries' academic institutes, quantitatively and qualitatively; b) Set up research product guidelines, standards for gender mainstreaming in higher education institutions; c) Insert the gender dimension in all the training and educational centres and institutions of higher education in Cyprus and in the participating countries by engaging the members of their academic society in an interrogation of the gender map of tertiary education; d) Create and disseminate good practices for effective qualitative interventions that promote gender mainstreaming in higher education. The profile of the woman politician in Cypriot Television. A gendered analysis, submitted for funding through the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation. Target groups: women politicians in Cyprus. Objective: to make an in-depth investigation of the profile of the woman-politician through analysing several programmes of the Cypriot Television and to sketch the profile of the woman politician in relation to the corresponding profile that is given for a man-politician; to contribute to the realization of the important role of mass media in promoting gender equality in political decision-making. ESF Research Networking Programmes for Reexamining WORk-Family boundaries in European academic and public institutions and their implications for gender equality ( Worries ). Objective: to develop a dynamic research network, within and between nine different EU academic institutions and to bring into contact scholars coming from different academic institutions to promote exchanges of knowledge and expertise for the critical examination of 2

3 academic institutions work-life reconciliation practices and the promotion of gender mainstreaming in those institutions. The UNESCO Chair s Advisory Board (AB) Its creation shows the strong relationship between the University of Cyprus and the State (Republic of Cyprus). It will have a meeting once a year in order to have a common strategy in designing and implementing research, events and activities of high priority for Cyprus and the National Community. Another objective will be to review and give feedback to the activities already undertaken by the UNESCO Chair. Participants of the AB: Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and Public Order, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, Parliamentary Commission of Equal opportunities for Men and Women, Representative of Cyprus in UNESCO, National Organization for the Protection of Human Rights, Cyprus Radio Television Authority. 2. Conferences/Congresses/Meetings 1 st meeting of the local partners of the UNESCO Chair, 9 March 2009, Nicosia, Cyprus. Conference on WATER: Source of Life and Culture, May 2009, University of Nicosia, Cyprus (organized by the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue for a Culture of Peace, Cyprus). Seminar on the Topics of gender in the 21 st century: Conflicts, Migration and Marketing of human beings, 18 November 2009, University of Cyprus, Cyprus in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair in Gender Meetings of the Parliamentary Commission for Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, Cyprus, 3 March 2010 and 19 April 2010 ( Presentation and implementation of the targets of the National Action Plan for the Equality of Men and Women ). 3. Publications/ Interuniversity exchanges/ Partnerships Publications Articles UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Empowerment, University of Cyprus, in Children s Identity and Citizenship European Association (CiCea) newsletter, January- April 2009, Vol. 2. Announcement- New EU Research Project, in Children s Identity and Citizenship European Association (CiCea) newsletter, November-December 2009, Vol. 6. UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment, in Newsletter of the University of Cyprus, April 2009, Vol.28. 3

4 The gendered map of Cyprus Tertiary Education, in Children s Identity and Citizenship European Association (CiCea) newsletter, June Paper on Gender representations in Cyprus TV and the necessity for their deconstruction, Mary Koutselini and Sofia Agathangelou, to be published in the edited book by Fatima Sadiqi Women and Knowledge, by Routledge. Multimedia Material Webpage of the UNESCO Chair: Partnerships National Machinery for Women s Rights, Ministry of Justice, Cyprus University of Nicosia, Cyprus National Union of Women's Organizations, Cyprus UNESCO Chair in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue for a Culture of Peace, University of Nicosia, Cyprus Università di Roma Tre, Italy University of Presov, Slovakia University of Oradea, Romania Institute in Social Sciences and Humanities Research Euro-Balkan, Macedonia University of Patras, Greece NGO New Horizons, Athens, Greece Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine University of Lisbon, Portugal State University of New York, USA UNITWIN Network on Gender, Culture and People-Centered Development, Boston University, USA Roehampton University, UK J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main, Germany UNESCO Chair in Water, Women and Decision-making, University Al Akhawayn, Ifrane, Morocco Isis Center for Women and Development, Morocco UNESCO Chair in Gender, Development and Cultures, Universities of Vic and Barcelona, Spain Small Island Developing States Network Working Group on Education for All United Nations Girls' Education Initiative 4

5 II. Outcomes Through the UNESCO Chair, institutions, academicians, governmental and non-governmental organizations in Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East, combine their efforts to promote gender equality with respect to cultural diversity. The University of Cyprus and thus the UNESCO Chair- and its partners aim at functioning not only as a centre of excellence for local development on gender empowerment and collaboration, but also as a dynamic pole of synergy among chairs, networks, and working groups for the achievement of UNESCO s objectives regarding the overarching global priority of gender equality. III. Forthcoming activities For the coming months, the UNESCO Chair has planned the following activities: Organization of a symposium with the University of Cyprus and the independent nonprofit organisation New Horizons (Athens, Greece) on Wo [+] Man=? - Defining genders: New Roles- New rights?, October 2010 for 10 days: exhibition of visual arts, presentation of inspired documentaries and discussion from Cypriot and Greek artists and scholars on sexuality, social gender and identity; Organization of a 3 to 5-day study visit of partners to the UNESCO Chair, September: forum of discussion, exchange and learning on gender equality and empowerment; Co-organization of the Week on gender Studies with the Programme in Gender Studies at the University of Cyprus, November 2010; Meeting of all partners, inauguration of the UNESCO Chair, seminar-workshop with all partners on Policy and Good Practices for Gender Equality and painting exhibition Washing up Minds, University of Cyprus, October

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