The objective of this website is to increase the pool of women experts in areas where women tend to be under-represented through the Cyprus Expert Women Initiative. Development of an online women expert’s directory with the aim to become the leading resource for female experts and to promote good practices on gender equality by businesses and organisations.
The project was designed based on a needs analysis and assessment carried out by MIGS. The needs assessment found that the women are severely underrepresented in the media and that journalists and media professionals need help in connecting with women with expert perspective on various issues. The assessment also found that employers, state and non-state organisations, trade unions, and political parties find identifying women with expertise in various areas a challenge. At the same time, women surveyed felt that they had fewer opportunities to develop both personally and professionally, as well as fewer opportunities for networking.
The Cyprus Expert Women Initiative aims to respond to these challenges by developing a platform that will provide the opportunity for both target groups to connect with one-other. It will also provide training to women with the aim to better project and promote their skills and expertise and offer the tools to get together and form local networking groups.
The collection of disaggregated data on users will be an integral part of the project and data will be automatically generated at regular intervals. Data will be gathered through a log-in system for database users and a registration system for experts. The target is to have 300 end users and 200 women listed in the directory by end of the programme.
MIGS is now accepting applications from women of diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise to feature on the platform. If you are interested please visit she-experts.com for more information and a link to the application.
Currently the Call for Participation has received an overwhelming response from women across Cyprus. In the first week 30 women of diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise have applied. The Facebook post has reached 24,460 people, received 105 post likes, and 428 post clicks, and 53 shares. The call has also been circulated electronically to over 700 people and organisations across Cyprus. The initiative has received very positive feedback with women indicating that this is a needed and necessary initiative in order to boost the number of female experts participating in public and political dialogue on the island.
