New statistics issued by Eurostat last week revealed that Malta’s young and not so young seem to be quite reluctant to leave their maternal household early.

“While in the rest of the EU in 2008 the number of males who at 34 years were still living with their parents was just one in three (32 per cent), in Malta it was almost one in two (48.5 per cent)... Females seemed to be more independent, even as they usually married younger.”

Thankfully, nowadays not all females marry the minute they vacate their school desks, neither do they wish to settle down so quickly. In fact, although most youth still treasure the family, many hold friends, career and money very high on their priority list. Having said that, yes, women are much more independent than most of their male counterparts.

For starters, gone are the days when females even lacked secondary education let alone a tertiary one. Females today are as educated as males, if not more.

Suffice it to mention that there are more females attending the university than there are males. Many females are also becoming more ambitious and most prefer to continue their post-grad studies to gain their Masters and PhDs etc. The positive results achieved in higher education has not only boosted the females’ self-confidence, it has also changed women’s lifestyles.

They no longer feel dependent on their male counterparts. To the contrary, at times, because they are reaching higher educational levels, they actually feel superior. And the males know it!

Even as far as relationships are concerned, females are surely and steadily taking the lead. A few years ago a female would coyly wait for the male to take the first step. All a female could do was flirt a bit and hope he would take the bait. Today, it is the other way round.

I recently watched a programme on Italian TV discussing this very topic. Italian males are feeling threatened by their female peers and, because they feel somewhat inferior, the majority prefer to wait for a woman to approach them first lest they be given the cold shoulder.

Craving to be handpicked, Italian young men have become so much vainer, what with their coloured, highlighted and blow- dried hair, plucked eyebrows and shaved head and chests, weight watching, swanky designer clothes, sunglasses, snazzy cars etc. The irony is that the more effort men seem to be placing on their appearance, the choosier the females are becoming. After so many years being on the receiving end, women, finally empowered to cast their nets, are confident enough to pick and choose from so many fish in the ocean.

In Malta, matters might be a tad different but even here women are clearly no longer conditioned by males. Neither are they as inclined to settle down at an early age. Today, females prefer to flirt and toy with males to satisfy their momentary whims and move on to greener pastures, much the same way males used to do years ago.

Yes, girls are rebelling very much like boys used to do. Towards the end of last month I read an amusing passage in this reputable paper: “In my day, when the university was not open to all and sundry as it is now, the ‘rebels’ could afford to be ‘rebels’ with daddy’s money”.

Today, I might add, “rebels” can afford to be “rebels” with their very own hard-earned cash, females included.

Yes, women have become truly independent and vis-à-vis relationships the only thing they seem to want to commit to is to non-commitment.

They are having the time of their lives selecting and discarding partners. Their sole ambition being to reach and enjoy decision making levels, in all the senses.

In 1997, I had written an amusing piece, Life Begins At Forty, which described the differences between the middle-aged females and males. Since then things have changed drastically.

So how will the sexes tackle middle age? Will the maturer female still happily give up her career and focus on her family? Will the restless male’s wandering eyes stop searching to recapture his youth? Or will the middle-aged group also go topsy turvy and reverse roles too? The battle of the sexes is definitely on and men had better beware.

Imagine this scenario: the man finding the perfect balance between his job and coping with the million and one household chores, running errands, helping the kids with their homework, bathing and tucking them into bed, preparing a warm meal for dinner, waiting patiently, slippers in hand, while his partner gallivants all over the place, holding on to her youth for dear life!