Malta fares worse than countries like Albania and China in the latest Global Gender Gap report published by the World Economic Forum.
The island has slipped to 76th place in the global report, dropping five places since last year. It is the third worst EU performer, preceding only Italy and Cyprus.
The report aims to capture the magnitude of the gap between women and men in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and survival. However, it is not all gloom for females, with the overall figures showing the gender gap is closing in three of four parameters.
Once again, the Nordic countries slide effortlessly into the top places with Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland occupying the first four slots. Yemen, Chad and Pakistan are among the most unequal countries with respect to gender, with the US finishing 31st overall - one place above Kazakhstan.
Though Malta has registered a drop in rankings, its overall score has increased marginally since 2006 since the report has expanded its coverage from 115 countries last year to 128 countries, covering over 90 per cent of the world's population.
Malta's poor overall position is hampered by the abysmal performance in the economic participation and opportunities category. With 42 per cent female participation and 79 per cent male participation in the labour force, Malta places 108th.
Likewise, Malta fares poorly on issues like income, and the ratio between the two sexes of decision- makers and professional and technical workers.
At the other end of the scale, Malta performs well in educational attainment. It ranks first for literacy rates, and enrolment in secondary and tertiary education, though the ranking drops where primary education enrolment is concerned.
Malta ranks in 72nd place in health and survival, and 54th place in the political empowerment categories. With just a nine per cent female representation in Parliament, the country hovers in 98th place.
Malta had committed itself to raise the number of women in the working world by about seven per cent to 41 per cent and eventually meet the EU Lisbon Strategy targets of 60 per cent in two years' time.
Anna Borg, who heads the Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations, criticised the lack of family-friendly measures in the private sector.
She said it was ironic that while Maltese women were excelling in education - female participation in tertiary education exceeded that of males by seven percentage points - they were being hampered by poor work conditions and opportunities.
She cited research carried out by the Employment and Training Corporation, which showed that half of the 100,000 or so inactive women say they are prepared to start working given the right conditions.
"Though the Government is acknowledging the problem, there seem to be only sporadic incentives to lure women into the labour market," she said.
The biggest hurdle is faced when women have children, due to a lack of childcare facilities. The fact that most schools clock off before 3 p.m. also poses an obstacle for many women, and Ms Borg believes it is high time that the education authorities contemplate introducing breakfast and after-school services.
With school summer holidays lasting up to three months, it was also worth contemplating summer camps, Ms Borg said. Several women were left with no option but to go only for part-time jobs. In the meantime, the maternity leave period remains too short with mothers expected to return to work after 14 weeks.
Sina Bugeja, executive director of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, said that the latest WEF findings caused concern.
It was even more worrying that the Employment and Industrial Relations Act did not always reflect the Government's family-friendly measures, she said.
While there was no pay gap between the two sexes in the civil service, it was well known that men negotiate better salaries and conditions in the private sector.
On the other hand, structures need to be created to assist small and medium enterprises in particular, and in the process, encourage them to employ women.