A complete woman appreciates the interdependence she shares with the rest of society.

If we had to have a monument to honour the millions of women who do not hit the headlines with some extraordinary achievement, we could have one which highlights their hidden qualities.

Though many may claim femininity to be stereotypical, the world (men included) needs to be reminded of who the woman really is.

In an era of rights and emancipation, women have sometimes taken on more aggressive, perhaps stereotypically male, attributes and stances.

But the world is lacking other qualities. We need the beauty, silent strength, humility of that woman at the side of a sick child or tending daily to an old relative.

We need to shine a light on the courage and sacrifice of the mother who chooses to put her careeron hold or reduce her working hours to bring up her baby. We need the gentleness of a mother feeding her child.

We need to carve out the patience and the ability to endure suffering, such as mothers of disabled, sick children or kids in trouble. And we need to bring out the humour and wit which many women use to juggle their many roles in family life.

We need to honour the women who might not boost the economy in the short term, but who work hard for a healthy, social fabric through their dedicated child-rearing or voluntary work.

A complete woman appreciates the interdependence she shares with the rest of society. So this monument would need to bear other figures as well.

The male figures in our lives are also important. For years women struggled against male dominance and oppression – within the family circle and in civic spheres.

Some women, both locally and around the world, still struggle to fight for their rights to dignity, be it because of some form of violence, abuse or hurtful cultural practices, among other reasons.

Nonetheless, our lives are enriched by the presence of males who offer their support and understanding, and who help us grow and excel. In the presence of their loving masculinity, our femininity shines.

A woman’s maternal instinct can grow even beyond her own children (or the absence of them)

This monument would also need to show gratitude to our fathers, brothers, uncles, husbands and sons who helped us become who we are today.

It would need to bring out how males and females need to dance together and not try to outdo each other or equalise each other to bland androgyny.

This monument would also bear the figure of a child. We acknowledge that not all women are mothers, by choice or not. However, we’d like to acknowledge the fact that women are indeed bearers of life.

Children are not a hindrance to the progression of a woman’s career but an asset to her life. We have an irreplaceable role in a child’s life, and children have an irreplaceable role in ours.

They enrich our vision of life, the way we look at people, the sensitivity they bring out in us, the patience, the joy, the determination, the resilience. They make us deal with our innermost vulnerabilities and grow into more mature women.

A woman’s maternal instinct can grow even beyond her own children (or the absence of them). This instinct reaches out to the suffering of other children in her life or in society at large, and allows her to see the vulnerable child in every suffering adult. A woman nurtures the soul of the lives she touches.

This monument would need to show that women are bearers of life whenever they choose love over everything else.

If you had to design such a monument, what would it be like?

Ms Gatt is a social worker. She wrote this article with Mariella Catania, Christine Rossi, Martha Fitz and Suzanne Vella.