Despite having made great strides towards gender equality, women in Malta had yet to be on an equal standing to men, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has said. 

In a message to mark International Women's Day, President Coleiro Preca urged political parties to use the upcoming general election to draft more women into their ranks. 

Just nine of Malta's 69 MPs are women, placing the country 169th on a global index gauging female political participation. 

"Having so few women parliamentarians means that the perspective of half the population is not being reflected strongly enough in policy and decision-making," the President said. 

President Coleiro Preca acknowledged that some felt International Women's Day was given undue importance, but argued that multiple indices and statistical measures raised some troubling questions. 

Far more women formed part of the workforce now, she said, with the 47 per cent participation rate of 2012 having reached 54 per cent by 2015. 

But European statistics also showed that 15 per cent of Maltese women experienced physical or sexual violence, with more than twice that percentage being on the receiving end of psychological violence. 

The gender pay gap was also increasing, the President said, having risen from 4.5 per cent in 2014 to 10.6 per cent in 2016. 

She urged the judiciary to send the "strongest possible message" when handling cases of violence against women. 

"Without equality between men and women, our democracy will lack strength," she said. "When our girls are free of any form of violence, empowered to play their part as equal members of society and fairly represented in our political system, our families and communities will succeed."