Government measures meant to ensure equality between working men and women are ineffective according to the PN.
Equality spokesperson Claudette Buttigieg referred to Eurostat data which placed Malta at the top of the European list of the gender employment gap.
In March, the European Commission’s statistics office flagged data showing that the largest employment gap between men and women was registered in Malta with 24.1 percentage points, followed by Italy and Greece with 19.8 and 19.7 percentage points respectively.
Ms Buttigieg said that while the gender gap did exist in the past, the situation has become much worse.
She noted that some professions are faring particularly bad. During an initiative chaired by former president Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, accountants had noted that the discrepancy between women’s and men’s salaries stood at 20 per cent, she added.
“This is unacceptable and has to be addressed by a government which cares. The current government doesn’t care about women’s situation.
“Had the government cared, it would have taken measures to improve the situation,” she said during a press conference ahead of the May MEP elections.
International secretary Roselyn Borg Knight said that the World Economic Forum’s report on equality between women and men in the EU, had highlighted the issue of pensions.
Women’s lower wages when compared to men’s will also negatively affect their pensions – for every €100 that a man receives, a woman will get €55.20, she said.
The fact that equality between men and women was now worse off was of concern not just for the Nationalist Party, but all men and women, she said.
She referred to the PN’s European Parliament electoral manifesto, which states that elected representatives will work on improving this situation.
“When speaking of equality, we need to speak about equal opportunities and there are already current MEPs working on such issues, such as transparent working conditions and the work-life balance directives.
Malta remains worse than EU average for gender equality
It was disappointing that women’s situation has gotten worse rather than better. Although we lived in a country where equality should be a top priority, the measures taken by a socialist government was not reflected in the statistics, she added.