The campaign theme for this year’s women’s day is #PressforProgress. It is a rightly fitting reminder that although great strides have been made since the suffragette movement campaigned for women’s vote 100 years ago, the business of closing the gender equity gap globally is unfinished.

It is estimated that gender parity is 200 years away at current rates of change. Indeed, for the first time in a decade of monitoring, the World Economic Forum has recorded a downward trend in its gender gap index in 2017.

While in many countries women have practically closed or reversed the gender gap when it comes to educational attainment and health outcomes, there is still a marked gap when it comes to income levels and political representation.

Turning to Malta, a similar picture emerges. Women now have a life expectancy that is four years longer than that of men. Young women encompass the majority of our university graduates. Female employment has increased significantly. However, it is of concern to note that in Malta the gender pay gap is widening and gender segregation in employment has increased.

It is very possible that the widening gender pay gap is a consequence of the increased segregation. It is well known that feminisation of certain employment sectors often leads to overall deterioration in relative remuneration rates. One of the most worrying statistics is that Malta tops the list when it comes to perception of violence perpetrated against women. Compared to other European countries, respondents in Malta were more likely to state that this violence is ‘provoked’.

Closing the gender gap is not about a competition between men and women on the basis of gender but requires deep-seated change in mentalities. Evidence shows that women’s involvement in decision-making broadens intellectual capital and diversity. Women’s leadership ensures that women are able to bring their perspective to shape priorities and policy debates as well as creating a solid basis and strong momentum for promoting gender equity.

Evidence shows that women’s involvement in decision-making broadens intellectual capital and diversity

These very arguments, similarly provide a strong basis for ensuring that men’s perspective continues to be taken into account in all sectors of society and that women are not ghettoised.

So rather than promoting segregation, my plea is to strive for balance and equitable representation, having men and women learning together, training together and leading together. We need to have men on board too in our quest to #PressforProgress.

One simple task which everyone, particularly men, involved in decision-making, academia and media can choose to implement is ‘Say No to Manels’. This implies refusing to participate in panels for political discussions, academic and media events where no women are represented.

This is a simple yet powerful mechanism which basically requires people to stop and think. In most instances, when challenged, the organisers will find suitably qualified women to participate. Where it is absolutely impossible to identify a woman to contribute, the organisation is faced with the onus of raising awareness and making changes to avoid a repeat situation occurring in future.

This is remarkably difficult, yet all the more important in sectors where the gender gap is widest.

We need to see more examples of men and women leading side by side in a collaborative spirit in our local politics, business, industry, unions, science, academia and NGOs. This can happen if we are ready to change cultures and mentalities but it is unlikely to happen if we segregate topics and issues of discussion by gender.

Closing the gender equity gap in all spheres of Maltese society will not be achieved through ticking boxes and tokenism. It will not be achieved by false and superficial political correctness which uses women to score points. It requires our ‘movers and shakers’ to genuinely believe that justice, democracy and societal advancement can only be fully achieved when women and men contribute together to shape our future.

Let us ensure that this year’s campaign does not end today. Every public, private and non-governmental organisation can select a single action that it will undertake to close the gender equity gap during 2018 and publicise the action using  #PressforProgress to inspire others.

Natasha Azzopardi Muscat is president European Public Health Association.