Budget is flawed - MCWO

The government’s acknowledgement that more needs to be done to attract more women to the labour market was an encouraging step, the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations said.

It said it was constructive that the government was planning to implement an MCWO proposal to provide before and after school services.

However, the proposal was very vague with no specific target and seemingly without a budget.

The MCWO said that childcare centres were on the agenda and the government was proposing to open a number next year, including at St Venera and Floriana.

However, there was no indication as to how the localities awerere to be chosen nor when these centres were expected to open.

“Neither is any budget proposed for each one. It is not possible to estimate how affordable these centres will to be for parents. Too many issues have been left unanswered. Moreover, the proposal to rebuild three childcare centres in Mosta, Xewkija and Kordin is quite vague as no reasons were given for this rebuilding exercise.”

The organisation said that the news that 5,000 breast screenings were carried out was indeed positive.

MCWO looked forward to the extension of this screening programme to other age cohorts.

Another positive provision was that the income of women who worked part time and whose husband was on social assistance, would not be considered in the means test used to assess eligibility for social benefits.

Although the number of self-employed women was relatively small, it was still encouraging that self-employed who worked part time could now pay 15 per cent instead of the obligatory national insurance of €26.37.

However, it seemed that those who took this option would not be entitled to certain benefits in later life. Therefore, it was important that these women were fully informed about their position before taking up this option.

MCWO said it was disappointed that the government did not include anything on the possible funding of the extension of the maternity leave period in line with the proposed EU directive.

The confederation hoped that the government would consider changing its position during further discussions at EU level.

Moreover, there was no increase of funds for the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality neither was there for the Commission on Domestic Violence, two very important structures if Maltese society was to seriously deal with issues of inequalities.

The budget exercise was in itself flawed in that only eight provisions were directed at women, which meant that Malta was still very far away from undertaking a gender budgeting exercise.