A toothless Equality Commission, a doubling gender pay gap, a female Parliament deficit and a flourishing sex trade have been left on the back-burner, a newly founded NGO for equality said, slamming the government.

“It is crystal clear that women’s issues are not a priority for the government,” with gender equality being left on the back-burner far too long. This is unacceptable, according to the Association for Equality (A4E).

In 2013, the government pledged to be the most feminist, but is this really happening five years down the line, the group asks.

93rd of 144 countries

The NGO, chaired by Dr Anna Borg, believes things are actually getting worse.

Malta occupies an “embarrassing” 93rd position out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Equality Index – down from 88 in 2013. Likewise, the European Institute for Gender Equality noted Malta has not even reached its halfway goals in relation to equality. “If this was an exam, Malta would have failed,” according to A4E.

The NGO has drawn a list of “grave questions” and is demanding “serious answers”.

Why did it take the government four years to change the laws to come in line with the Istanbul Convention to protect women suffering violence? Is the plight of women who are victims of violence less important than other laws which have been fast-tracked?

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Not only has the government failed to implement the Istanbul Convention, but it has also failed in equipping institutions with the necessary tools to fight violence against women and set up prevention structures.

A4E believes that with the current attitude to violence against women, the prospects look “bleak”.

Another issue flagged by the NGO is “a toothless Equality Commission” with limited powers and resources. “Furthermore, most of the commission’s members are not experts in the area of gender equality. What is the excuse for this situation? Is the government happy with a commission that does not bite or challenge it?”

Meanwhile, the gender pay gap has doubled since 2014, when it stood at 4.5 per cent. Five years down the line it has increased to 10.6 per cent, the NGO said, adding this suggested that women entering the labour market were largely occupying low paid jobs.

Other pending women’s issues

Going around in circles on quotas and Parliamentary representation of women: In the last 70 years the increase of women in Parliament has been an unremarkable 0.07 annually. Today 85 per cent of parliamentarians are men. Debates on quotas abound, but nothing much happens to change things on a national level.

The government does not bother to appoint enough qualified women on its boards: Sixty per cent of university graduates are women, and more women now obtain master’s and doctoral degrees than men. If the government really wants to choose people on the basis of meritocracy, it should definitely include more qualified women.

The flourishing sex trade: The most feminist governments – Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Can-ada, France, Ireland and Northern Ireland – have adopted the Nordic model for sex work. What stops Malta? Under the previous and current governments, massage parlours that offer sex as an extra have mushroomed, while strip clubs are left to operate where youngsters congregate.

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