Gender Issues
Maltastar (17-08-2009)
A recent European commission report reveals that we have the lowest female employment rate. This is not the first report or statistics highlighting our deficit.
As part of my parliamentary duties I attend to several meetings and conferences both on European and international level. Each and every time we discuss female rates and statistics, we are always at the bottom of the list.
A couple of years back I was at a CPA meeting in London and the African representative was very curious to know why in Malta our women are so passive. She attributed women’s lack of participation to female passivity and explained to me how African women only started to progress when they decided to become very active.
I do agree that the social structure is not helpful and that we lack back up especially with regards to child care facilities and family friendly measures. It is also true that it is useless to have policies and laws on paper, which are not being enforced, but it is also true that as women we are being too tolerant.
We also have a social policy minister to be happy with the number of women staying at home to take care of the children. This is good, he says, and do not take any heed of statistics because our reality is different! What he fails to consider is that most women staying at home have no choice even if they cannot afford financially to do so.
Staying at home to bring up the children is a good thing of course so how come government did not adopt the European Commission’s recommendation to extend maternity leave and to revise paternity leave? How come those family friendly measures look so good on paper only?
Gender issues have become clichés in certain circles. Meanwhile our women are holding back despite their potential and we are denying our country the female way of doing things
We also have a social policy minister to be happy with the number of women staying at home to take care of the children. This is good, he says, and do not take any heed of statistics because our reality is different! What he fails to consider is that most women staying at home have no choice even if they cannot afford financially to do so.
Staying at home to bring up the children is a good thing of course so how come government did not adopt the European Commission’s recommendation to extend maternity leave and to revise paternity leave? How come those family friendly measures look so good on paper only?
Gender issues have become clichés in certain circles. Meanwhile our women are holding back despite their potential and we are denying our country the female way of doing things
© 2009 - Justyne Caruana
