What women want… longer school hours and maternity leave

Women's organisations have responded warmly to the respective parties' proposals to increase female participation in the workforce: singling out State-assisted childcare centres as a step in the right direction.

However, representatives of both the National Council of Women and the Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations concur that extended school hours and providing after-school activities would do more than free childcare to boost the numbers of working women.

They also express concern at an apparent difference in conditions between public and private sectors - arguing that the former is better-equipped than the latter to meet the needs of young mothers who join the labour market.

Mary Gaerty, president of the NCW, argues that there are a number of stumbling blocks currently making it hard for working women.

"Culture is an important factor, particularly in two ways: one, in Malta we have a culture whereby men, especially in the 45+ age group, expect women to stay at home caring for the family, rather than pursue a career; two, women themselves in general prefer to take care of their families, leaving the role of breadwinner to the male."

A third problem arises when it comes to childcare. "Leaving the children in the care of professionals is often not cost effective, especially with young women and women within a low wage bracket. This in part is the reason why so many women who actually work, depend on the help of grandmothers and aunties to care for their children."

Renee Laiviera, chairperson of the MCWO, agrees: adding that the problem appears to be more keenly felt in the private sector.

"The lack of child care centres and a lack of after school programs are a challenge, in the private sector in particular. The public sector provides family-friendly measures such as parental leave and the opportunity for mothers to take a five-year career break, which help a lot. The private sector however tends to be less helpful to mothers. New mothers can only take three months' leave and the process is so complicated that some mothers end up not actually using it at all."

Free childcare would be very useful for everyone, she adds; but women working within the private sector would benefit particularly.

"For a long time now we've been asking for more childcare centres. There aren't enough of them and they're not affordable, especially for women with part time jobs or with low income."

Apart from increasing female participation as an end in itself, there are other issues affecting the quality of the jobs taken up by women: not least, a tendency to choose part-time over full-time employment, in order to juggle family and career.

Romina Bartolo, executive director of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, points out how Malta still falls short of European standards when it comes to the full-time/part-time gender divide.

"According to Eurostat statistics, under one third (32.1 %) of women employed in the EU27 worked on a part-time basis in 2011: a much higher proportion than the corresponding share for men (9.0 %)," she said. 

"In Malta, statistics issued by the National Statistics Office show that between July and September 2012, 21.3% of women worked on a part-time basis. Therefore, Malta is currently below the average of women who work part-time in the EU27. Women often choose to work part-time in order to balance work and family life and is considered as a family friendly measure."

Likewise, Gaerty told MaltaToday that the real difference between working men and women is measured, not in terms of pay, but in terms of hours. "Women tend to have part time jobs rather than full time, leaving the role of breadwinner to men and concentrating more on the welfare of their families. Women's salaries are lower than men's because they work fewer hours."

Women are often overqualified for the jobs they take up, she adds. "They are often forced to refuse more lucrative full-time jobs in order to have the flexibility that a part-time position can offer."

According to Rene Laiviera, this same discrepancy creates a gender pay gap, even though legislation is in place to guarantee equal pay for equal work.

"There is a gender pay gap. It is not a difference in pay per se; it's that it is harder for women to improve their job status. It's harder to get a promotion if you work part time or at reduced hours and leaving work for long stretches of time doesn't help either."

Family-friendly measures, she adds, would improve career prospects for women and would help reduce the present gender pay gap.

Echoing Gaerty, Laiviera calls for improvements in the private sector. "The three-month leave scheme must be made more accessible to new mothers. It would also be tremendously helpful if it were stretched from three months to six."