Maltese society is seeing a low fertility rate and a sharp rise in the number of women who are working, a parliamentary committee has been told.
The subject was discussed at a meeting of the Family Affairs Committee in the context of a discussion on priorities in the work-life balance.
The Director of the University Centre for Family Studies, Prof. Angela Abela, said that a silent revolution is taking place in Malta. Although only 40 per cent of women in Malta are in employment, the pattern is changing radically according to different age groups.
The female work participation rate for the 25 to 29 years group had increased by 14 per cent from 56 per cent of the female working population in 2001 to 70 per cent in 2010. This increase was the steepest in all EU member states over the same period, meaning that the country was shifting from a traditional society to one of working couples.
The increase in female work participation was also much in evidence in the 30 to 34 year groups from 49 to 60 per cent and among the 35 to 39 year group from 27 to 50 per cent.
The statistics, she said, were the result of research made by 39 members of diverse professions.
The research also showed that 31 per cent of young mothers were prepared to return to work after six months of birth to be able to cope with the family’s financial burdens.
Labour MP Justyne Caruana said that studies showed that if the working female participation rate in Malta increased to 100 per cent, this would lead to a 50 per cent increase in the GDP.
Continuing, Prof Abela said that part-time employment among men in Malta increased from 4.4 per cent in 2000 to five per cent in 2010 when the EU average decreased by 1.5 per cent. Another study found that 52 per cent of the Maltese work more than nine hours daily with 13 per cent of them working over 11 hours. Some 65 percent continued working at home. Prof. Abela said that this showed that striking a work-life balance was an area of concern.
She also referred to low fertility rates in Malta at 1.4 per cent, adding that maternity leave was a need and had to be even longer.
NSO statistics showed 27 per cent of births in Malta were outside marriage. In 29 per cent of such births in 2010, the father was declared as “unknown” but this did not necessarily mean that there was no relationship between the child and the father. Fifty-six per cent of single parents were in risk of poverty and were either unemployable or engaged in precarious work.
Marie Louise Coleiro Preca (PL) said that during the last 12 years, there was a sharp rise of 6.6 per cent in the poverty rate among single and separated parents.
SUPPORTING FAMILIES
Prof. Abela remarked that there was a need to understand family dynamics better. She said that research carried out by the professionals showed the need of greater support to families. She added that other research showed that many parents did not have a second child because of stress they suffered in coping with their family responsibilities.
Committee chairman Jean-Pierre Farrugia said that there was the need to increase the birth rate. Prof. Abela said this demographic and economic challenge had to be addressed urgently because the country was already late on such an issue. The low birth rate did not only concern women but also the economy.
Prof. Abela underlined that family policies should target all types of family in Malta and should give priority to issues of poverty, mental health, disability and low-educated couples. These policies had to be evidenced based.
The professionals’ research concluded that assistance to families had to be given within the community with emphasis on early intervention for children, on relationship education and on life-work balance.
There was a need to increase psychological services offered by the government because of long waiting lists and also the need to provide better conditions of work to professionals in the caring sector. Psychologists were leaving government service while social workers were overstretched.
Prof. Abela emphasised that if Malta did not think on how to bring up children, the country would be facing severe problems of neglect in the future.
MPs Charló Bonnici (PN) and Carmelo Abela (PL) together with Centre representatives Prof. Marianne Lauri and Dr Ruth Farrugia also participated in the meeting.