Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in Cyprus: What the Data Reveals
Nearly 4 in 10 women in Cyprus who have ever worked report having experienced sexual harassment at work
Sexual harassment in the workplace is not a rare or isolated issue affecting only a small number of organizations.
Official European data shows that it is a significant workplace issue in Cyprus.
According to the EU Gender-Based Violence Survey, 39.9% of women aged 18–74 in Cyprus who have ever worked reported experiencing sexual harassment at work during their working life.
The corresponding EU figure was 30.8%.
In other words, the reported prevalence in Cyprus was approximately 9 percentage points higher than the EU figure.
The issue is not only something that happened in the distant past
The data becomes even more significant when we look at how recently women reported experiencing sexual harassment at work.
For Cyprus:
39.9% reported experiencing sexual harassment at work during their working life.
19.7% reported experiencing it within the previous five years.
7.4% reported experiencing it within the previous 12 months.
For the EU overall, the corresponding figures were:
30.8% during working life.
12.8% within the previous five years.
4.3% within the previous 12 months.
Cyprus therefore recorded a higher prevalence than the EU figure across all three periods measured.
Behind every percentage is a real workplace.
An office. A hotel. A restaurant. A healthcare facility. A retail business. A construction site. Or any other organization where people work together.
What does “sexual harassment at work” actually include?
One of the reasons sexual harassment can remain unnoticed is that people may associate it only with extreme physical behavior.
The EU Gender-Based Violence Survey uses a much broader range of unwanted behaviors with sexual connotations.
These include:
inappropriate staring or leering;
indecent sexual jokes or offensive comments about someone's body or private life;
exposure to sexually explicit images or videos;
inappropriate invitations to go on a date;
inappropriate suggestions for sexual activity;
unsolicited physical contact;
inappropriate advances through social media;
sexually explicit emails or text messages;
threats of negative consequences for rejecting sexual advances.
The survey also makes clear that work-related sexual harassment is not limited to behaviour occurring inside the physical workplace. It may involve supervisors, colleagues, clients or other work-related persons and may occur through digital communication or in other work-related settings.
Which age groups are affected in Cyprus?
The Cyprus data shows that workplace sexual harassment is not limited to the youngest employees.
Among women who have ever worked, the reported prevalence was:
45.7% among women aged 30–44
40.4% among women aged 45–64
39.8% among women aged 18–29
The figure for women aged 18–29 is marked by EIGE as having low statistical reliability, so it should be interpreted with caution.
For women aged 65–74, the reported figure was 24.6%.
The data therefore indicates that workplace sexual harassment can affect women across different stages of their professional lives.
But how many incidents are never officially reported?
This may be one of the most important parts of the discussion.
A Cyprus-based academic study published in 2025, involving 527 female employees, examined sexual harassment in Cypriot workplaces.
The researchers reported that:
68.9% of participants had experienced at least one form of sexual harassment, while
51.1% did not report the harassment to Human Resources, management or the authorities.
Among the reasons identified for not reporting were concerns about creating an issue, fear of being stigmatized and concern about possible consequences for their careers.
These figures should not be directly compared with the 39.9% EU-GBV figure, because the studies use different samples and methodologies.
However, the study highlights an important issue:
The number of incidents that occur and the number of incidents formally reported may be very different.
“It was only a joke.”
This is one of the areas where workplace boundaries can become unclear.
Sexual harassment does not necessarily begin with an extreme incident.
It may involve repeated sexual jokes, comments, unwanted messages, inappropriate remarks, unwanted physical contact or behavior that makes another employee feel intimidated, humiliated or offended.
Under Cyprus legislation, sexual harassment is recognized as a form of sex discrimination.
The relevant legal definition refers to unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, particularly by creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
The question, therefore, is not simply:
“Did the person intend it as a joke?”
The workplace must also consider the nature of the behavior and its effect on the person experiencing it.
“We have never had a sexual harassment complaint in our company.”
That may be true.
But there is another possibility:
An incident may have occurred without management ever being told about it.
The Cyprus study involving 527 female employees found that more than half of the participants who reported experiencing sexual harassment had not reported it to management, HR or the authorities.
This means that the absence of formal complaints should not automatically be interpreted as proof that inappropriate behavior has never occurred.
For employers and managers, the more useful questions may therefore be:
Do our employees understand what sexual harassment is?
Do managers know where the boundaries are?
Do employees know what to do if an incident occurs?
Would an employee feel able to report a concern?
Would management know how to respond appropriately?
Sexual harassment and employer responsibility in Cyprus
Sexual harassment in employment is addressed under Cyprus's legal framework on equal treatment between men and women.
A key piece of legislation is the Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Employment and Vocational Training Law of 2002, Law 205(I)/2002, as amended.
Official guidance from the Cyprus authorities states that the person carrying out sexual harassment bears primary responsibility, while an employer may also bear responsibility in relation to sexual harassment committed by employees, including supervisors or colleagues.
Employers are also expected to take complaints seriously and investigate them thoroughly, objectively and promptly.
Prevention should therefore begin before a complaint reaches management.
Prevention starts before an incident occurs
A safe workplace is not created simply by having a policy stored in a folder.
Managers, supervisors and employees need to understand:
what constitutes sexual harassment;
where professional boundaries lie;
how inappropriate behavior can be recognized;
how an incident should be reported;
how managers should respond to a complaint;
how confidentiality and dignity should be protected;
and how organizations can create a workplace culture in which inappropriate behavior is addressed early.
Training should not begin only after something has gone wrong.
Effective prevention begins before the first complaint.
Is your organization prepared?
The question is not simply whether your organization has received a complaint.
The more important question is:
If something happened tomorrow, would your employees and managers know what to do?
Clear policies, appropriate reporting procedures, informed management and effective employee training can help organizations create safer and more professional working environments.
DRC Consulting & Training
DRC Consulting & Training provides corporate training on the Prevention and Management of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, adapted to the needs and working environment of each organization.
The objective is not simply to present legislation.
The objective is to help employees, supervisors and managers understand workplace boundaries, recognize inappropriate behavior and know how to respond appropriately before a situation develops into a serious workplace incident.
Clear boundaries protect both employees and organizations.
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