Childcare issues were at the forefront of the discussion yesterday at the start of another public consultation process on Budget 2008 following the publication of the pre-budget document.

The topic was strengthening women's participation in society.

Despite the fact that childcare seems to be one of the major stumbling blocks to attracting women back into the labour market, the idea of these facilities at the workplace has not really caught on, and the private sector did not seem to be recognising their need.

However, the uptake in the government's childcare centres was not high, said Tonio Fenech, Parliamentary Secretary in the Finance Ministry, who participated in the debate at St James Cavalier, in Valletta. He pointed out that the mentality still needed to change.

Grace Attard, from the National Council of Women, said many did not trust childcare facilities enough and that the times of the services on offer did not necessarily match working hours.

But Anna Borg, from the Employment and Training Corporation, said that a TV campaign to highlight the benefits of using quality childcare centres had seen a major shift in perceptions, with about 80 per cent of respondents believing in the benefits. Society was changing and policies should be based on research, she added.

While the public sector did not lose as many female employees, the private sector had a problem of retention the moment a woman had her first, or second child, she pointed out.

While Ms Borg understood that employers needed to remain competitive, they were not realising that they would see a return if they did not abandon their female employees at that delicate stage.

The burden of childcare needed to be shared between the government, the employer and the family. But, at this stage, it was falling squarely onto the woman, Ms Borg said. The private sector was not yet contemplating the idea of a replacement employee, or "casual", which the public sector has introduced.

The option of having childcare facilities in homes, offering a better environment and being less costly, also needed to be looked into, Mr Fenech said.

The sharing of parental leave was also promoted from the floor. Fathers needed to take on their responsibility in their children's upbringing, from which they stood to gain. The father should be entitled to a quota of parental leave, which would be lost if he did not take it, it was suggested.

Single parents were also the topic of conversation. The problem was supporting them, without creating a situation whereby they abused and stayed away from work. Some couples even separated but continued to live together to benefit from the single mother's subsidy.

Incentives for single mothers did not necessarily have to be financial, but should be educational, Ms Attard pointed out.

Of the 200 proposals in the pre-budget document, a substantial number hit women, directly or not, Mr Fenech said. Women's involvement in society had also been tackled in the previous three budgets and a number of incentives and measures have been introduced to increase their participation in the labour market and allow them balance work and family life.

This pre-budget document, however, considers the family in a broader perspective, offering a number of recommendations. Among these is the extension of tax credits for children in kindergarten - the only age bracket that has been left out. Tax credits, Mr Fenech said, encouraged people to work and contribute to the economy, because only those who were employed benefited from them.

The government was also working on a campaign to increase awareness of the need for women who did undeclared domestic work to enter the formal economy and pay national insurance, which was in their interest, Mr Fenech stressed.

He will be throwing yesterday's proposals onto the table of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development for further analysis.

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