17 cases of sexual harassment and discrimination in 2012

Seventeen complaints of discrimination were filed with the National Council for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) during 2012, the council said this morning. The cases revolved around sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender, age, religion, ethnic origin and sexual orientation. 

During the same period, the council felt the need to intervene in 60 cases of gender discriminatory adverts, of which 55 featured discriminatory text and 5 non-balanced gender images. 

"The adverts were related to employment and educational opportunities and were published in several newspapers, magazines and online news portals. In this case we contact both the company and the media source to amend the advertising format," Dr Romina Bartolo, NCPE executive director said.

Addressing the annual conference of the NCPE, Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli said that tackling inequalities is not just crucial for our generation but also for future generations. 

"While some progress was made, the results achieved in recent years are still far below the European Standard and far below what is expected. Women remain largely unrepresented on Government boards and agencies, the employment rate of women is the second lowest in the EU and the gender pay gap still persists," Dalli said. 

She also noted how family-friendly measures are still widely unavailable and inaccessible to women with children. 

Citing various research, Dalli concluded that discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and racial discrimination is "widespread in Malta".

During the conference, Simonds Farsons Cisk and Food Chain limited were awarded the Equality Mark Certification. 

"Although the project through which the Equality Mark was funded ended last year, we continued auditing companies leading to the awarding of the Equality Mark," NCPE said. 

Since 2010, 53 companies and entities were awarded the Equality Mark, 38 of which are from the private sector.