The Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies have warned Cyprus and European politicians that low fertility is a structural problem, not a women’s issue to be solved through financial incentivessaying subsidy-based demographic policies risk undermining women’s rights.
Responding to ongoing politics discussions on demographicsthe Institute said the “instrumentalisation” of female fertility amounts to regression rather than policy, and that attempting to incentivise births without addressing the conditions that prevent women and men from having children commodifies women’s existence, according to the press release.
The Institute warned that blaming women for low birth rates is, in its view, a first step towards questioning achievements such as bodily self-determination and the right to abortionand said it rejects any “authoritarian family policy” that uses demography as a pretext for restricting women’s freedoms, citing examples from other European countries.
The Institute said the “maternity penalty” remains a core obstacle in Cyprus, pointing to research showing women face salary reductions, career stagnation and job insecurity after having children. It described the Cypriot labor market as rigid and often hostile to mothers, and said maternity, paternity and parental leave entitlements remain meagre.
Demographic research shows low fertility results from structural factors including economic insecurity, inflation, high housing costs, social and value changes, and increased uncertainty, the Institute said. It added that benefit-led demographic recovery policies had been tried in other European countries without yielding the expected results.
The Institute called for a series of measures: decoupling gender equality from demographic objectives, describing equality as a non-negotiable human right; universal and free pre-school care; a housing strategy for accessible housing? extended paid and non-transferable maternity, paternity and parental leave; and strengthened health, transport and care infrastructure for the elderly and people with disabilities.
It cited data from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) showing that gaps in state care infrastructure are disproportionately filled by women. “Cypriot politicians must treat women as equal citizens who demand infrastructure, respect for their bodily autonomy and full gender equality,” the Institute said. “Populist approaches to demographics with announcements of individual subsidy incentives will not only not yield demographic results, but risk causing a setback in women’s rights.”
