A lot of women would work... under the right conditions

A surprising 44 per cent of "inactive" women would actually like to work, but not under the existing standard conditions, and it would have to be worth their while financially, according to a new study.

Compiled by the Employment and Training Corporation as part of its gender equality action plan, the study was conducted over the telephone, using a random sample of 768 inactive women aged between 19-64.

Presenting the results of the study, entitled Women and the World of Work, ETC strategy general manager Sue Vella explained that those unwilling to work were significantly older.

The study endeavoured to find out the willingness of inactive women to work and the conditions that would encourage them to do so.

It is interesting to note that of the 44.8 per cent who wished to work, 97.6 per cent cited financial reasons as important, followed by the opportunity to learn (90.1 per cent) and the opportunity to socialise (82.2 per cent).

However, despite their keenness to work, practically all (99.5 per cent) said they were not actually looking for a job.

But if the conditions were right and they were offered the chance to work family-friendly hours, had good conditions and were provided with further training, they would consider working.

One major concern which worried these women was the fact that if they worked part-time their partner would incur more tax and this served as a serious disincentive.

The majority (71 per cent) of those wishing to work have been employed before, with 49 per cent previously holding the job of machine operators and assemblers; clerks (19 per cent); services and sales (16 per cent); elementary jobs (nine per cent) and managerial, professional or technical occupations (seven per cent).

It is an interesting point that the partner of 87 per cent of those wishing to work was employed, with the majority (49 per cent) working in crafts and trade. The average annual income of the partners was Lm5,528.

These findings raised a series of issues on how women and men could be assisted to balance work and family life; how women who wished to work could be enabled to do so and the role of social partners and society to achieve these goals.

These issues were discussed at length yesterday afternoon at a half-day research forum held at the Le Meridien Phoenicia Hotel and opened by Education Minister Louis Galea.

Dr Galea said the government was determined to ensure that jobs would be provided for whoever wished to work.

Highlighting the situation, he said that until 25 years of age, there were practically the same number of women working as men. However, when they got beyond this age just 34 per cent of women remained in the labour force as opposed to 73 per cent of men. The EU's median rate of working women stood at 56 per cent.

While the majority of part-timers were women, according to the Labour Force Survey, two-thirds of those who did not work cited family responsibilities as the main reason, Dr Galea said.

Discussing the results, Ann Toledo, the ETC's empowerment programme coordinator, said that when a woman stopped working she lost a lot of rights.

"Money is power and she loses the right to buy what she wants when she wants. Apart from that, housework is a dead end job with no personal development. Mothers can feel incompetent when they see their child playing on the computer and they don't know how to use it," she said.

"This is a reality I face with the women who come forward. These results clearly portray that the women's desire to work as a means of socialising, is that they want to escape the monotony and social isolation," she said.

Meanwhile, Angela Abela, a representative of the National Commission for the Family, spoke about the worrying trend of women delaying having children because of the pressures of juggling family commitments and work.

"This is a worrying perception which has been inherited over generations." She said that unless there was more focus on flexible working conditions, the aim of having more women in employment would not be reached.

Malta Employers' Association president Arthur Muscat said Malta still had a long way to go to encourage more women to re-enter the working world.

"Employers have to be made more aware of the economic advantages of flexitime. There are also prejudices against women being promoted to managerial posts under the false perception that pregnancy destabilises the working environment," he said.