Malta was losing "hundreds of talented girls" who had the potential to become leaders because they were not being encouraged to pursue the careers they really wanted, businesswoman Claudine Cassar said today.
Speaking during a conference of women in leadership organised by HR Consulta at the Palace Hotel in Sliema, she said she knew of instances of young girls who were discouraged from becoming engineers or pursuing a career in IT by their school guidance teachers or parents because those were "boy's jobs" and one day they would have a baby.
Dr Cassar, the executive chairwoman of Alert Group, said there was still pressure on women to "be all women" and behave in ways associated with women.
"I'm not going to let anyone tell me it's ok for a man to behave like this but not for women... I am assertive and I'm all woman," she said.
These discouraging messages were not limited to schools, she said, as she gave the personal experience of a bank refusing to give her an overdraft because "one day" she might have children and her business might collapse - something which did not happen despite her having three children.
She urged parents and teachers to be careful what messages they were passing on to young girls. She also urged girls to ignore these negative messages and pursue their passion.
"Be careful what messages you give your girls... encourage them and let them achieve their potential and, hopefully, by the time a baby comes along they will be intelligent enough to choose a partner who will support them," she said to applause.
Various women at the conference noted that women who were assertive were often labelled as being "a bitch" whereas the exact same attitude was acceptable from men.
They also spoke about women being their worst enemies by putting down each other.
Another woman said that, as an employer, she had the experience of women who returned from maternity leave as completely different employees - with shifted priorities that affected their performance at work.
One said that because she was not married and did not have children it worked against her since there was the assumption that she had nothing to do.
A man in the audience spoke about the importance of knowing the facts and understanding the reasons behind the facts such as understanding if it was true that women's priorities changed after having children.
Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg said was concerned whenever the word "women" was included in a title as "we start thinking it's a women's issue - I believe there are no such things as women's issues... Men need to listen to what we have to say."
Labour MP Marlene Farrugia said the biggest hurdle that men and women faced was overcoming fear to voice their opinion and of repercussions. She encouraged people to push through their fear and make themselves heard.