President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was presented with the Public Life Award by the Hungarian Socialist Party in recognition of her "promotion and  improvement of women’s rights and gender equality over Europe".

The award was presented by Zita Gurmai, European Member of Parliament and President of the Women’s Section of the party. 

The award was presented at the end of a conference organised by the Office of the President and the University of Malta with the theme ‘Gender Equity: A Human Rights Perspective’, organised as part of the series of events which the Office organised to mark the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Though there has been an improvement in Malta, women’s presence and representation in public life, and across all areas of decision-making needs to be strengthened, the President said.

Areas of inequality, such as the gender pay gap, stand in the way of the attainment of full gender equality and equity.

The President said that having legislation in place is a very important step forward, however the right infrastructure is also needed for women to be truly encouraged to take their rightful place in society. Moreover, she called for effective protection from all types of abuse, such as domestic and sexual violence and femicide.

President Coleiro Preca praised the initiative taken by the University of Malta and by Prof. Marceline Naudi when setting up the European Observatory on Femicide, which is working to provide essential data about the most lethal forms of violence against women in Europe.