Women should not have to choose between a career and a family, according to researcher Anna Borg, who highlighted the correlation between low female labour participation and birth rates.
“Low female participation is affecting birth rates, overall employment figures, the family’s income and the sustainability of the welfare state.
“This is not just a women’s issue,” said Ms Borg, who lectures at the University of Malta’s Centre for Labour Studies.
Ms Borg was speaking at a public debate organised by the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations, which she sits on, about gender parity in a democracy and the role of the EU within this sector.
She insisted there should be reconciliation between the family sphere, which was usually associated with women, and the public one, associated with men, because in reality they had an effect on each other.
While Europe was aiming for 75 per cent employment rate by 2020, the gap between male and female participation in Malta was wide.
According to a 10-year study, only 20 per cent of women had children and a career, while 30 per cent did not work and nearly 50 per cent drifted in and out of work.
Between 1996 and 2009, out of a potential 27.7 million working days, only 9.8 million were actually worked by drifters, she noted.
In Malta, women had to choose between family and work and, since young women were entering the labour market, the island was among the countries with the lowest fertility rates.
There were only 1.4 children for every woman in Malta, she said, adding that data showed the correlation between higher female employment and a higher birth rate.
The debate, at Europe House, Valletta, included the participation of MEP candidates.
Labour candidate Miriam Dalli, who recently became a parent herself, insisted on a change in culture in favour of a balance between a career and the family. If the EU was asked to help fund campaigns to change the mentality and support dual earners, the campaign had to trickle down to children as well, she said.
Labour candidate and single father Lino Bianco noted that the new presidential family – Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca who will be sworn in as President tomorrow was a single mother before getting married – was a prime example that challenged stereotypes.
Referring to the broader, European context he asked how there could be parity when one third of women were still abused physically and mentally.
Ms Borg, who chaired the debate, said the issue was complex and men could make a difference by launching a campaign for men and pass on a message that men should not abuse women.
PN candidate Helga Ellul agreed that the biggest problem was a cultural one because the role models were still very conservative.
Referring to maternity leave, she said the cost had to be covered by the employer in Malta while abroad very often this was shared with the State.
Reacting to comments by fellow candidate Kevin Cutajar, who hinted that encouraging women to take up employment could see them moving away from parents’ natural instinct towards children, Ms Ellul noted she did not decide to work only to earn money but it was also part of her personal fulfilment.