Once working men and women enter parenthood, their wage difference soars from six to 16.6 per cent, according to new data.
And women in the financial, professional and IT sectors fare much worse than their male counterparts within those industries.
Addressing a seminar on the gender wage gap on Friday morning, Joslyn Magro from the National Statistics Office noted that women in the financial and insurance sectors earn 28 per cent less than their male counterparts, while the gap in the professional and scientific industries stands at 23 per cent.
The gender pay gap in the IT and communications sector is 20 per cent, followed by a 19 per cent disparity in the arts and entertainment, and the wholesale and retail industries.
Manufacturing is the sixth economic activity with the highest wage gap, which stands at 18.8 per cent.
Does parenthood have a bearing on this disparity?
Mothers of children aged 16 and under, or those aged between 16 and 24 but who are financially dependent, earn 16.6 per cent less than fathers.
The wage gap between men and women who are child-less, or whose children are financially independent, stands at six per cent, Ms Magro noted.
The figures presented at the seminar organised by the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, are based on the latest Structure of Earnings Survey data.
According to this survey, the number of women in the labour market is increasing, but so is the wage gap.
Ms Magro told Times of Malta that although there was a quiet revolution going on among women, with more of them taking up employment, they have so far not caught up with their male counterparts when it comes to financial remuneration.
Ms Magro hopes that as the number of female employees increases, so will their opportunities, leading to more equity.
'Shocking' tripling wage gap - President
For President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, it was “shocking to acknowledge that the gender pay in Malta has almost tripled over four years: from 4.5 per cent in 2014 to 11 per cent this year”.
The overall earning gap stands at nearly 50 per cent, according to the latest Eurostat reports.
Furthermore, in comparison to men, women still tend to be employed less, are employed in lower-paid sectors, work on average six hours longer per week than men, but have fewer paid hours, and face fewer and slower promotions, she added.
“We need to find innovative ways to address this troubling situation, especially in our society, and I hope these indicators will provide valuable food for thought during this conference.”
Addressing the same seminar, director of the Centre for Labour Studies Anna Borg noted that women work for free more than a month every year.
Earlier this week, she told Times of Malta that things will only get worse if nothing is done.
“We have quite a challenge on our hands – how do we tackle the issue of secrecy and move towards more transparency in pay packets? We need to start speaking about the culture of secrecy so that people become more aware and start asking their employers about disparities,” she said, urging for more flexibility at the workplace to reflect 21st century realities.
Gender wage gap by level of education
Basic Education: 10.3 per cent
Secondary to post secondary education: 12 per cent
Tertiary Education: 18.7 per cent
Gender pay gap increases with age among the top six economic activities with the largest gap
15 to 24 years-old: 7.5 per cent
25 to 34 years-old: 20.3 per cent
35 to 44 years-old: 24.5 per cent
45 to 54 years-old: 28.6 per cent
55 to 64 years-old: 32.6 per cent