Women still earn 15 per cent less than men

According to the last report issued by the European Commission on February 24, the employment rate for women is 15 per cent less than men in the EU and the work/life balance is still proving difficult.

The report calls on EU countries to provide better ways to help women deal with home and work pressures. The report will be submitted to the EU at the Spring European Council on March 23 and 24.

The report also states that women earn 15 per cent less than men. This is partly because women are concentrated in lower-paid professions. Part- time work accounts for over 32 per cent of women's jobs, but just over 7.4 per cent for men. Young mothers experience a 14.3-point drop in employment, with young fathers represent a 5.6-point drop

Malta is facing similar problems: stereotypes and gender-biased job evaluation systems account for these gaps both in employment and pay. The principle of 'equal pay for work of equal value', the application of which is crucial to gender equality, is one of the articles of the EIRA. However, it is not included in legislation on gender equality and measures to implement it have never been undertaken. The Commission has also published data on men and women in decision-making.

In March 2005, of the 30 countries included in the database, 23 per cent of all national parliamentarians were women. Malta stands at 10 per cent; 30 per cent of the 732 European Parliament members are women. All five Maltese MEPs are men. On the other hand, out of the five European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) members, three are women.

Women are almost invisible in the top 50 publicly quoted companies. On average, only three per cent of the presidents of these key companies are women and 10 per cent are board members. Malta stands at the bottom of the list at three per cent. In the national administrations, on average, women held 24 per cent of the high-ranking jobs and 16 per cent of the top jobs in 2004. Malta stands at 15 per cent.

The NSO news release of February 16 also addressed the issue of reconciliation between work and family life and how far persons participate in the labour force as they would wish and where they are unable to do so, whether the reasons are connected with lack of suitable care services for children and for dependent persons

The findings show that 34.3 per cent of males and 65.7 per cent, females take care of disabled or elderly who do not necessarily live in the same residence; 57.3 per cent of the total number of persons with caring responsibilities were inactive, followed by 41.1 per cent that were employed.

Childcare arrangements among persons with children aged up to 14 varied; 53 per cent of those with childcaring responsibilities left their children with husband/wife or partner while one of the parents was at work. Childcare centres or paid child-minding services were the least common method used by persons with children below 14 years, with main reasons given that childcare services are too expensive or not of sufficient quality.

As estimated, 12 per cent of the employed population with childcaring responsibilities said they had to make use of their vacation leave or have specific working arrangements made when their children were on holidays or when childcare was not available.

The release also analysed the degree of flexibility offered at work in terms of reconciliation between work and family life. Of the total employed aged 15 to 64, the majority or 43.5 per cent said it was not possible to have such work arrangements. On the other hand, 31 per cent said that permission is granted to alter their working schedule due to family responsibilities.

The majority, or 53.9 per cent, said it was not possible for them to organise their working time in such a way that they would work extra hours during a particular day to take a whole day off during other days for family reasons. Only 21 per cent said it was not a problem to have such working conditions. It is interesting to note that there is no difference between men and women on such working flexibility.

These statistics clearly indicate what the hurdles are. However, there are other measures that need to be undertaken locally to facilitate women's participation. One of them is the provision of a legal framework to regulate temping agencies, which is another means of further increasing female participation in the labour market.

The EU has proposed a new directive to regulate the working conditions of temporary workers, guaranteeing no less favourable treatment than that of employees in the company to which they are sent. This measure should be pushed forward as one of the initiatives of the Year of Workers' Mobility 2006.

It is also important to know how many women have benefited from the one-year tax holiday for women returning to work after five years, as proposed in Budget 2004.

If this measure has been successful, this incentive should also be extended to other women for the next two years.

Improved training and incentives for women should be closely monitored to ensure a realistic increase in employment. As far as possible, social reforms should give higher value-added results - including schemes that are based on economic return, like the Danish model.

Any change in the position of women at work affects men. To achieve balance in decision-making, men must be mobilised and involved. To make it easier for women to take on jobs with higher responsibilities, more men will have to share more fairly the domestic and household responsibilities. Governments, institutions and companies can encourage this shift by reassuring their internal culture and the message it gives to their staff and the outside world on the role of women and men.

Any measures to address equal opportunities must ensure that targets are set, evaluated and monitored to achieve equality results realistically.