So yesterday we celebrated Mother's day. We treated our mothers and we all, at least most of us, had a good time. All well and good but where does it leave us? Traditionally women have always been financially dependent on men in this country. Not too long ago, women were first supported by their fathers and eventually by their husbands. As recently as the early 1990s (that is just over 10 years ago) married women in Malta could have their marital home sold from under them by their husbands and there was very little that they could do about it. To this day there are women in abusive and dangerous relationships who cannot escape because they are financially dependent on their abuser. It is a sad fact that the woman who is financially independent is the woman in a far stronger position.

In an ideal world caring for your family would give you as much protection and status as a well-paid job. The sad truth is that at the moment when a woman is at her most vulnerable, having an adequately paid job is often essential for her and any children involved. In these circumstances, it is important that the question of employment or lack of it be a matter of choice and not a question of difficulty in finding an adequate place in the workforce.

There are many women who cannot be part of the workforce because the jobs they find are not adequately paid and just not financially worth the effort it takes to go to work. This is for a variety of reasons. Women usually have more of a problem reconciling their work with their private life. This often leads to jobs that pay less or part-time work with the vulnerability it entails. Women sometimes find that they can only limitedly commit to their job because of the difficulties they face in integrating their work with their family life. Therefore they often do not reach decision-making and well-remunerated positions. This could be one of the reasons why there is a significant pay gap between men and women.

Women's economic independence is of benefit not only to them and their families but also to the economy and to society at large. It is in society's interest to have the best people employed in the jobs they were trained to do, rather than have a substantial amount of them drop out or perform at an inferior level because the support system necessary for them to be able to work is not in place.

Unless these issues are adequately addressed, we can talk about equality until we are blue in the face but the truth of the matter will be that we will continue to have an employment, pay and status gap between men and women.