Gender discrimination

I refer to the article on the debate to have gender dimension in the Future of Europe Convention (May 23). I share the views of Ms Dolores Cristina, MP, and the emerging scenario in the EU, that women of necessity must empower themselves by establishing their own institutions to express their views. My views are the outcome of at least 30 years of experiences in the workforce in Malta, and internationally.

The workforce has evolved under the influence of men and works to rules which promote and support men in preference to women, including the use of female skills and competencies to carve out a niche and a career in the workplace. The initiatives of the UN, even when transposed into legislation such as the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Parliamentary Act and The Human Rights Act have failed to bring equity to women in the workforce.

Gender discrimination constrains highly qualified women to live in poverty when they should have had senior management positions and financial security while men in senior positions are constrained to be responsible for duties they do not have the qualifications and experience for. Although the EU has a number of directives focused on gender equity, these will also fail to bring about equity because parliamentary acts do not provide remedial action (heavy fines and jail sentences) and are not backed by administrative procedures strengthened by targets and benchmarking.

The solution is for the EU to make it mandatory that aspiring states should (i) have in place parliamentary acts with adequate remedial action (ii) provide evidence of a functioning administration with benchmarking dealing with gender equity, as well as fairness, transparency and accountability.

Indeed, the EU becomes a party to gender discrimination and injustice when the EU gives funding to institutions that do not have in place the legal tools to protect women from gender discrimination in the workforce and the consequences which flow, such as a loss of educational investment, professional exploitation and poverty.