The Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations (MCWO) said today that it supports the claim by the Malta Employers Association (MEA) which is calling on the government to phase-out the burden of paid maternity leave. Currently this expense is paid by the employer during the first 14 weeks.

Whilst insisting that maternity leave should continue to be paid in full, the MCWO said that obliging the private sector to meet this extra financial burden was costly to the employer to the extent that the current system works against women as employers may be tempted to choose a man over a woman, thus drastically reducing women's employability.

"The MCWO insists that paid maternity leave should be seen as an investment which brings increased benefits to the country and therefore should be paid through public funds as is the case elsewhere in the EU," the council said.

The confederation is an umbrella organisation that represents 14 organisations which collectively have 24,000 female members.