Opportunities for women

In his budget speech last November, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had announced that the government would be giving a one-year tax holiday to those women who opt to return to work after January 1, 2005.

This budget promise was delivered a few days ago when the relevant legal notice was published, highlighting the details of those who are eligible for this initiative. Women who can benefit from this scheme have been defined as those who have not yet reached retirement age and who have been absent from gainful employment for at least five years. They also need to have been gainfully employed for at least 24 consecutive months before they stopped working.

In fact, this initiative forms part of the National Action Plan for Employment, which was launched late last year. To say that Malta's only natural resource is its human resources has practically become a cliché. With 50 per cent of this resource being female, the importance that the present administration gives to this part of our "national resource" can never be underestimated.

This latest initiative is yet another feather in the cap for the Nationalist Party where women are concerned. In fact, there is a visible sequence of achievements that have led to a positive change in women's position and status in Maltese society under subsequent Nationalist administrations.

During these years the Constitution was amended to ban discrimination on the basis of sex, Malta ratified the UN convention to eliminate all discrimination against women and the law on equality between women and men came into force. There have also been significant changes in the Civil Code regarding the rights of married women, while very recently the Cabinet approved a draft law on domestic violence.

The PN's policy in post-secondary education, opening up the doors of the university for all qualified persons and doing away with the student-worker sponsorship scheme, has led to a dramatic increase in the number of female university students, so much so that female students today surpass males.

Moreover, many other initiatives to encourage women to remain in the Labour market or to return to work have been introduced over the years. These initiatives include the increase of maternity leave from 13 to 14 weeks, the possibility of working for reduced hours, the right to one year's parental leave for every child and the right to three years' unpaid leave that can be availed of only once until the child is four, besides a number of amendments to the Employment Relations Act and the introduction of training programmes for women. This has also led to an increase in the number of women working part-time, from 11,000 in September 2002 to 13,000 in September 2004.

In spite of all these efforts and positive results, female participation in the workforce is still low when compared to that in other EU countries.

This factor, together with the government's strong belief in the valuable contribution of women, have been taken into consideration in the National Action Plan for Employment which was launched together with the National Action Plan for Poverty and Social Inclusion.

These action plans aim to address the challenges in the area of human resources. They address the needs of adults with a low level of skills who want to return to the labour market and who, at the same time, are the most vulnerable and the most at risk of falling below the poverty line. Statistically, it is women who are the ones mostly at risk: single mothers, women living on their own and victims of domestic violence. This is another compelling reason why the present Nationalist administration is committed to addressing the challenge of encouraging more women to return to the Labour market.

Late last year the government also launched a document on early childhood development and care, drawing up its policy on regulating and encouraging childcare facilities, which make it possible for more women to return to the workforce with their mind at rest that their children are being taken care of in a safe and professional environment.

The opportunity given to married women by the tax holiday granted in the legal notice should not be lost. It is important that women grab such opportunities. While benefiting from such initiatives, they will be also contributing to the development of the economy of our country.

Ms Mallia is president of the Nationalist Party Women's Movement.