Women in the economy

As a general rule I tend to shy away from controversy on the role of women in the economic and productive sectors of our country. Charles Mangion's article (July 31) entitled Women And The economy will be an exception. Although I am in agreement with Dr Mangion that there is still much to be done to promote and motivate women to participate in the workplace, I tend to disagree on a number of aspects.

Whether we like it or not women are staging a quiet revolution in the areas of education, academia, research and entrepreneurship. During the last 20 years women have dramatically improved their legal status.

Reforms have been enacted in property, marriage and employment laws and these have radically changed a woman's perspective of her role in society. Although it may be improbable to identify the actual reasons behind the certain lag of female participation in the economy, it remains encouraging that this divide is quietly being bridged as time goes by. Breaching traditional life patterns, home-based activities and gender-specific idiosyncrasies take time. Women are now enjoying equality of access in the spheres of education and actually surpassing men in their presence at tertiary level. The re-birth of Mcast has also encouraged women to opt for careers previously exclusive to men in, for example, engineering.

Furthermore, the government has launched a myriad of initiatives in the areas of training, re-training and bridging the digital divide.

The recently-introduced fiscal measures should be a clear sign of the government's commitment to increased female participation.

Participation of women in these initiatives is encouragingly high and augurs well for the future. In fact, statistics sometimes tend to inconclusively paint a realistic picture.

For example, although I agree that female employment in Malta is excessively low among the female population (37 per cent as opposed to an EU average of 58.3 per cent), Dr Mangion fails to point out that in 2005 females counted for less than 34 per cent of the workforce (according to The European Cohesion Fund statistics). Hence, in a two-year period, female participation in the workforce increased by almost 10 per cent. This can hardly be described as little progress overall!

Is there more to be done? This calls for a resounding yes! Beyond what has been done so far, as lately as the last budget, a number of initiatives spring to mind. Clearly, women will always be disadvantaged, albeit temporarily, in their career - building prospects due to their natural roles as mothers. This is an undeniable fact. For particular periods of time, a woman's life is entrusted with the caring of a family and juggling between work and home life will always remain a balancing act. This calls for specific regulation and legislation.

Flexitime remains mostly a privilege of the state sector. One understands the economic reasoning behind market forces and productive deadlines.

One must also remember that losing precious human capital also has a significant economic cost. I suspect that with an increased presence of women on economic decision-making bodies this issue can be overcome. Furthermore, an increased presence in MCESD and Meusac could raise further this awareness.

The childcare care centre facilities being set up by the government is a highly commendable project.

These are still too few in number and must be increased accordingly. Unfortunately, large governmental institutions with a significant proportion of female staff still remain conspicuously without childcare facilities.

One understands the economic constraints but, once again, how much is it costing to train new staff to replace working mothers who are forced to quit working due to a dearth of childcare support?

It is a fact that different skills and competences may not be fully recognised and most especially this could apply to women who have not managed to complete structured secondary and tertiary training. In this respect the Malta Qualifications Council is endeavouring to provide a benchmarking platform and provide qualifications for the diverse skills and competences.

I regret that Dr Mangion took such a paternalistic attitude towards women and the economy. It is indeed a shame that he only seems to come into contact with families where girls are not encouraged to excel in education as opposed to boys.

May I reassure the Leader of the Opposition that I am proud to note that females excel, graduate and specialise in Malta regularly and they all do it quietly and get on with improving their prospects and the country's economy.

If there is one skill that can be safely attributed to females it is that of survival and I challenge any male ready to comment on female issues to question our extraordinary prowess at surviving, improving ourselves, contributing to the economy while at the same time preparing successful future males and females for integration into society.

Ms Galea is a member of the executive committee of the Nationalist Party.

caroline.galea@gov.mt