Addressing the issue of women's participation in decision-making is one of the six priorities of the EU Roadmap for Gender Equality 2006-2010. All member states are obliged to take the necessary measures to implement the roadmap.

NCW vice-president Grace Attard, who worked on the project, said it is in this context that the NCW, in collaboration with the National Statistics Office, has conducted a study on 'Obstacles to the Participation of Women in Decision-making' (a UNESCO project).

A conference was held on Tuesday at Le Méridien Phoenicia Hotel, Floriana, to present the study's findings and to identify obstacles for women in decision-making posts in the political, economic and social sectors.

In her welcome address, NCW president Doreen Micallef traced NCW's initiatives over the past 42 years, its work at European and international levels and the changes brought about in Malta as a result of the council's recommendations and resolutions.

Reno Camilleri, NSO Acting Director, spoke on the NSO's role in producing statistics on gender equality not only because it is a core concept of the NSO but also as a national institution to contribute to Malta's achievement of the Lisbon goals.

Education, Youth and Employment Minister Louis Galea highlighted the importance of ensuring that there are opportunities for women in decision-making posts at all levels. Government is committed to strengthening policies to achieve these objectives, Dr Galea added.

Maureen O'Neill, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) expert and researcher, gave her reactions and recommendations, emphasising the importance of education, starting with the family, not only to change stereotyping but also as concrete measures to encourage gender equality behaviour at the earliest stages of life.

Ms O'Neill also gave examples of good practices in the UK, in particular in enterprises where the concepts of flexibility and diversity were introduced and which gave marked results in company profit.

Dr Joanna Drake, head of the EU Commission Representation in Malta, spoke on the need to find practical, effective solutions that deliver results. She said structural deficits need to be addressed across the board, and encouraged the NCW not to lose sight of its goals in its strategies to bring about changes in government policies, trade unions, political parties and other institutions to ensure that opportunities for women in decision-making are realised.

Dr Drake also spoke on EU policy, which is treating gender equality as a global issue. She also encouraged the participants to make use of EU funds to address the issue of women in decision-making and other issues.

Etienne Caruana, an NSO manager, presented the results of the survey. Preliminary results clearly reveal that many women are not coming forward for top posts because of the difficulties in reconciling long hours of work and family responsibilities.

The study also reveals that both women and men fail to see the relationship between a woman's life pattern and gender, and the negative impact on her career path choices.

In her concluding remarks, NCW president Doreen Micallef highlighted a number of observations of the findings. To women, job satisfaction seems to play a more important role to them than it does to men.

Does this mean that women will make better and more devoted workers in higher positions? Married women seem to perceive that their chances of attaining a promotion is much lower than if they were single.

Mrs Micallef asked: Is this their own perception or is it employer related? Child care/partner support are very important factors in determining whether women can move forward in their career. However, gender does not seem to have a high level of importance in keeping them back from getting a promotion.

The findings revealed a great difference between women and men with regard to participation in political parties, trade unions and NGOs. There seems to be a greater interest by women to join an NGO than political parties and trade unions. Women show that they would like females to be present in our political system, both in parliament and in local councils, as it is their right and because they are able to do it. "So why is it that we lack participation?" she asked.

Also, gender is not an issue when voting for a person and this shows that if political parties were to present good female candidates, their probabilities of success could be quite high.

A high percentage of women without children (70 per cent) don't work. Childcare can't be the problem here. So is partner support/family support very important to working women, as attested by the support given by grandparents in child-care?

Clearly the findings reveal that perceptions and actual facts are very different. Consequently, it is the perception of both men and women that needs to be addressed together with changes in current social structures.

The NCW believes that gender equality in decision-making is a social issue. Policies based on the concept of diversity of human resources (in this case, women) enrich society and therefore should not be underestimated.

The NCW is convinced that this study is a timely opportunity to encourage an objective debate and to propose concrete measures to address the issue and pave the way for young women.

The publication of the study and a full report of the conference will be available from NCW centre in the next few weeks on request.

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