Women’s housework burden is about three times that of their partners’. We need to find a balance and allow women to invest more in their career, says Anne Marie Spiteri.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I think I’ll open with the bad news. At 47.3 per cent, Malta’s female employment rate is one of the lowest in the European Union. In the third quarter of 2013, the EU average stood at 59 per cent and the only countries placing below Malta were Croatia, Italy and Greece.

The good news is that if you look at the numbers more closely, the situation isn’t really as bad as it first seems because these statistics are for women aged 15 to 64. A 50-year difference and a sea of change in societal attitudes, access to education and opportunities mean that this group is anything but uniform, making it unwise to try to reach any sort of meaningful conclusion from statistics obtained over the whole range.

Splitting the whole set into a number of narrower age groups gives a much better picture of the current situation. While only a woeful 25 per cent of Maltese women aged between 50 and 64 work, the number of working women increases as age decreases. This trend reaches a high of 77.2 per cent in the 25 to 29 age group, well above the EU average of 66 per cent.

Anna Borg, a researcher and lecturer at the Centre for Labour Studies at the University of Malta, says that it is unlikely that these women will drop out of the workforce as they grow older and decide to start a family. This is due to both the increasing level of education among women as well as to the fact that nowadays most families do not afford to live comfortably on one wage.

This doesn’t mean that we can sit back and congratulate ourselves. Women are managing to remain in the workforce during the childbearing and child-rearing years at a cost, which is that of choosing to have fewer child­ren. The birth rate in Malta currently stands at a low 1.38, significantly below the replacement rate of 2.1. This will eventually have an increasingly negative impact on our society and the country’s economy is bound to suffer.

In addition, while women do better than men in education, they tend to chronically underperform at work, with very few women occupying top jobs across the whole spectrum, from business to academia to politics.

Ms Borg thinks that we should start by looking at the uneven distribution of work assumed by women and men at the home in order to try to understand what is happening in the workplace.

In a typical family, women are still doing about three times as much of the unpaid work as their partners. This situation has been propagated through the generations by the persistence of sexism and gender role stereotyping, where women are still expected to take on the role of principal carer of the home and family, even when they do paid work in parallel.

Unfortunately, this attitude goes on to colour all the daily decisions that need to be taken within a family unit, such as who stays at home with the children when they are sick and who has to work flexibly. Consequently, women generally have less time and opportunities to make career advances and are often less likely to be promoted than an equally qualified male colleague.

Such a complex situation can only be tackled through an equally multifaceted approach. Change must first begin with the individual. The core belief that men and women are different but complementary and thus equally valuable in all aspects of life must act as the foundation on which men and women build their behaviour and attitudes both at home and work. For maximum benefit, the decisions of individuals must then be supported by the implementation of well thought out policies.

Ms Borg believes that the introduction of quotas is essential to ensure that change really happens. When I point out that quotas may be viewed as giving women an unfair advantage, Ms Borg highlights the gross discrepancy in the numbers. About 60 per cent of university graduates are female and about 70 per cent of women aged up to 32 work – however, only about three per cent of high positions are occupied by women. Ms Borg argues that the numbers are evidence of a barrier which hasn’t been broken down by natural progression and can only be dismantled through the introduction of quotas.

Another policy which I personally believe could help to break down the traditional gender roles within the household is a drastic change in the allocation of paid parental leave. In Malta women are currently entitled to 18 weeks of paid maternity leave, while men are entitled to one paid day of birth leave and four months of unpaid parental leave. While women generally make use of all their maternity leave entitlement, few men ever avail themselves of their unpaid parental leave. Consequently, women have more time to bond with children and set up household systems, enforcing society’s view that women are naturally better suited to caring for home and children.

In a number of Nordic countries, a non-transferable portion of paid paternity leave has been introduced and studies have shown that this has long-term positive effects on how men and women share household and childcare duties. Consequently, I believe that the gradual introduction of such a system to the point where men and women enjoy equal amounts of paid parental leave would release both men and women from the shackles of stereotypes, allowing them both to partake in the joys of family life while finally giving women a truly equal chance to succeed in their chosen career path.

Dr Marica Gatt

A sense of identity

Why is your career important to you?

Although I look forward to my pay cheque at the end of each month, money is not my main driving force. I enjoy my work and my career gives me satisfaction and a sense of identity.

Did you ever consider reducing your working hours or giving up work completely when your children were born?

I worked on a reduced hour schedule until my kids were five and three. This allowed me to be more present during their early years, while not giving up my career. I also managed to complete my PhD during this time. I then got promoted and had to return to work on a full-time basis so my husband started working on a reduced hour arrangement, and continued to do so until the children turned eight and six.

How do you manage to strike the right balance to fulfil both your work and your family responsibilities?

I think that the essentials are good time management, proper prioritisation and family support. My husband shares in all household chores and child rearing responsibilities. We do not have specific division of chores but work around daily requirements and according to the time available. By sharing the domestic duties we are left with more free time to spend with the children.

Do you ever suffer from working mother guilt?

Working mother guilt is a continuous feeling. Although I always try to strike a balance between work and the children, I am always weighed down by the feeling that I am not doing justice to my family, especially when I have to miss birthdays or school activities because of work commitments. To reduce the guilt feeling, I always try to focus on the positive things that I bring to my children and I try to make the most of the time that I spend with them.

Why do you think that female participation in the workforce is important?

It is a known fact that men and women tackle issues with different mindsets which complement each other. I believe that this is why female participation in the workforce is indispensable.

Dr Marica Gatt is the director of the Plant Health Directorate within the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change. She sits on various committees and lectures at the University of Malta in several areas related to agriculture. She is married to Norbert and they have two children, Karl and Katia, aged 15 and 13.

Dr Claire Shoemake

Setting an example

Why is your career important to you?

Career importance transcends gender and is a function of the investment one has placed into its growth. Years of sacrifice and meticulous pursuit of a goal make it difficult to suddenly give up everything for an alternative existence. I obviously work to earn money – who doesn’t? – but I am lucky in that I love what I do.

Did you ever consider reducing your working hours or giving up work completely when your children were born?

I never considered working on reduced hours and much less did I consider giving up work. I was back to full-time work one week after the twins were born.

How do you manage to strike the right balance to fulfil both your work and your family responsibilities?

I don’t think there’s a secret to juggling one’s life. I think the choice of mate sets the tone for how married life unfolds. My husband and I operate more or less ad hoc – we both know what needs to be done and we just get on with it. In addition, I have always had unwavering support from my family at all levels. My husband and I, together with our daughters, live at my parents’ home. This means that the girls have another set of parents and it also means that I do nothing in the way of housework and cook only on Sundays. If I had no family, then my husband and I would have opted for home help to raise the girls.

Do you ever suffer from working mother guilt?

I never did. I am a pragmatist. Together with my family we ensure that the children do well at school and that they enjoy extracurricular activities. In my absence they are with the people I love most, so if my mum discovers a wobbly tooth there is no one happier than I that it was she who found it. I believe that our lifestyle sets an example for our children. We teach them the value of cooperation and hard work and I hope that they grow up to be self-reliant and non-dependent.

Why do you think that female participation in the workforce is important?

Female participation in the workforce is important simply because women represent slightly more than 50 per cent of the population. From an economic standpoint it would be a crying shame for any nation to reduce its workforce by half.

Dr Claire Shoemake manages two pharmacies. She is a senior lecturer in medicinal chemistry at the University of Malta. She is married to Larry and they have six-year-old twin daughters.