In the 1960s, women knew their place - it was in the kitchen - and men ruled the roost. If a woman wanted financial stability there was not much choice: she either got married or remained a poor spinster. The man was clearly the breadwinner, until the liberation movement started a revolution for equal rights.
Fifty years on it seems the impact of this revolution has failed to shake the deep-rooted paternalistic mentality in Malta and many still believe a woman's place is in the home.
According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, Maltese respondents, and that includes men and women, still believe a woman's main duty is to stay at home, raise the family and do the household chores.
The statistics are hard to swallow in 2010. A survey conducted among 500 Maltese last October found that 68 per cent of respondents believed it was "normal" for men to do less household chores than women.
Financial viability also stops making sense when gender is involved. A woman may be able to rake in more money for the family but why bother if this challenges her husband's masculinity? Sixty per cent of Maltese disagreed that the father should stay at home, even if the mother earns more.
The survey found that although 61 per cent of respondents admitted the number of working women was still too low, 85 per cent (the highest in the EU) still felt women should give priority to raising children over their career. Just 10 per cent stated the contrary.
Now, it is indisputable that a mother is crucial to the child's first years in life but in Malta we seem to forget there is a father too. When a couple has a first child, the father is entitled to just two days leave if he is a full-time employee. What if his wife has a Caesarean and has to stay in hospital for five days before being discharged? Are the grandparents expected to step in? And what if there are none?
This situation further perpetuates the mentality that the mother is solely responsible for child-rearing and the home. The strong influence of the Church had, in the past, also propagated this state of mind by placing strong expectations on women's, not men's, role in the family.
No wonder Malta has the lowest rate - 38 per cent - of women in the working world across the EU. Contrast this with the fact that 60 per cent of University graduates are female. So where are these graduates? Are they being forced to choose between family and career?
It is useless just blaming a dearth of proper structures in place to encourage a work/life balance for the family when the deep-seated maternal instinct to spoil boys is still prevalent. Some mothers feel it somehow deprecates their role if they don't do everything for their children. So boys leave home unable to cook, iron their shirts or wash the floor. And they don't have to, because the girlfriend/wife steps in and, more often than not, does so happily.
The need for boys and girls to be raised as equals without gender stereotyping was raised by Clare Thake Vassallo, representing the National Council of Women, during a seminar to mark International Women's Day.
The only way we can move forward to achieve equality is for everybody - policymakers, men and women - to encourage gender convergence in household responsibilities and childcare.
Women may have better choices and opportunities these days but until the mentality changes we will remain stuck in the 1960s.