Labour leader Joseph Muscat this evening dedicated this year's Freedom Day to women, who he said needed more rights and further emancipation.

Speaking at the Freedom Day celebrations in Vittoriosa, held this evening, Dr Muscat said Malta needed greater female participation and more women in decision making positions.

"We have to have the courage to take all the measures necessary to ensure women equality and participation in the country's topmost structure.

"We will do this because it benefits Malta... I want to live to see the day to see the first female Prime Minister in Malta," Dr Muscat said.

This, he said, might sound like a dream but when the Prime Minister Dom Mintoff appointed Agatha Barbara President of the Republic he had shown that his vision was 30 years ahead of the times.

Dr Muscat said he wanted the movement the people were building together to be a new feminist drive, which should include the participation of all who shared the same beliefs.

Malta, the Labour leader said, had to be a society which did not rule individuals about their freedoms. There were freedoms the country still had to fight for and the majority had to be convinced that these freedoms belong to them and future generations.

One such freedom was the right for employment. It was important to continue fighting for rights where workers and employers worked together in coalition.

Dr Muscat then led the laying of flowers on the Freedom Monument.