Updated at 1.45pm with PN reaction

Equality between men and women in Malta existed only on paper, and the country having the largest pay gap in the EU was unacceptable, Joseph Muscat told party followers in Pieta.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the Labour club on Sunday, 80 days in the run-up to the European Parliament and local council elections.

“In Malta we have laws in place that guarantee equality while the government also wants to push equality, however, equality between men and women does not exist,” Dr Muscat said.

He noted that while more women had taken up employment, supported among others by initiatives such as free childcare, the gender pay gap was increasing, rather than decreasing.

This meant that women were either being paid the minimum wage or entering employment at the lowest levels.

According to the latest data, there is an 11 per cent wage difference between men and women who do the same job, meaning that symbolically, women in Malta work for free between November 19 and the end of the year.

According to Dr Muscat, there was also a gender element to poverty in Malta, where a substantial amount of those suffering material deprivation were women.

In keeping with the topic of gender issues, the Labour leader flagged the absence of women from the judiciary and parliament.

So far, none of the retired magistrates and judges have been women, bar Judge Ena Cremona who gave up her local post for one in the EU.

A Labour government had therefore made it a point to “short-circuit the system” with 57 per cent of its nominations for the Malta Courts being women.

This saw an increase of female presence in court from 37 per cent to more than half.

Parliament had a similar history.

Dr Muscat said that since elections started taking place in Malta, only 27 women (including former Speaker Myriam Spiteri Debono) were elected to Parliament, which had in the meantime hosted hundreds of male MPs.

In order to create more balance, something this government had been given a mandate to do, we will be proposing “a mechanism that provides more space to women”, rather than quotas, he added. These positive measures will be temporary.

A public consultation will kick off in the coming weeks, however, such constitutional amendments needed the backing of two-thirds of the House, he noted.

The Prime Minister had a word for “men who did not care” about gender issues.

“Remember that everyone has a mother, a daughter or a granddaughter, and I don’t know of any man who wants their daughter or granddaughter to be worse off than their son or grandson.” 

Remember that everyone has a mother, a daughter or a granddaughter

George Vella best person for the job

In looking back at this week’s events, Dr Muscat defended the nomination of George Vella as Malta’s next President.

He said that despite criticism that the government had lost the opportunity to nominate a person from the opposing political camp, Dr Vella was the best suited person for the job.

The government had looked at Dr Vella’s qualities, and not his political affiliation, just as it had done with the appointment of George Hyzler as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

The PL leader also referred to the inauguration of the American University of Malta, which currently hosts fewer than 100 students.

The AUM is expected to host some 4,000 students over the next four years, he said, adding “let’s see whether those laughing at the fact that there are currently 90 students will continue to do so when there are hundreds of students.”

Increase in pension for next year

Economic growth, which last year stood at 6.6 per cent, would see another increase in pensions, Dr Muscat said.

The 6.6 per cent GDP growth rate was double that of other European countries, with the country producing €12.3 billion, he added.

“As a result, in October we will announce another increase in pensions for the 2020 budget.”

Despite the increase in growth, wealth inequality persisted, he said, and there were still people who were finding it difficult to keep up with the rent and their everyday expenses.

While material deprivation had been halved, the government will continue with its efforts to decrease poverty, Dr Muscat said.

'We've gone backwards' - PN

The Nationalist Party suggested that Dr Muscat had "conveniently forgotten" to note how Malta had actually gone backwards in terms of gender equality during his time in office. 

It listed several metrics, published in international reports, which showed that gender equality in Malta was even less likely now than previously. 

Among those figures were a significant increase in the gender pay gap, from 7.7 per cent in 2011 to 12.2 per cent this year, and a second-from-bottom place across the EU when it came to the share of women on boards. 

"After promising the most feminist government in history, Joseph Muscat's government has led to gender equality being a long distance away," the PN said. 

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