This time last year, FIDEM held a conference on International Women’s Day called ‘Accelerating Gender Equality through Economic Empowerment’. With the benefit of hindsight, I would like to highlight 10 statements which struck me during that conference and which, I hope, will not be forgotten in this year’s conference* on the theme of ‘Accelerate Action’.
1. The glass ceiling has not been broken: The first sobering point was made by Sabine Agius Cabourdin (FIDEM), who noted, in her introductory speech, that we are still at the point where we celebrate if a company has a female CEO: it is still something extraordinary and not the norm.
2. Neither has educational imbalance: Nationalist MP Justin Schembri said that girls outperformed their male colleagues at school all throughout their educational journey up to university, yet, at postgraduate level the balance shifted in the other direction.
3. Life-long learning is a challenge: Prof. Carmel Borg called for a series of measures, including an audit, to assess the inclusivity and the quality of the education system for women, including life-long learning opportunities for migrant women.
4. Work conditions can be improved: Abigail Agius Mamo said that the Chamber for SMEs encouraged businesses to digitalise their work and become more flexible in order to be more attractive to persons considering raising a family.
5. Employment stereotypes still exist: Ann Marie Cassar (MCAST) noted that out of 400 students taking a course in early years education at MCAST only 12 males were attending. This career path is still seen as one that suits the female stereotype, possibly reinforced from early childhood play. Karen Demicoli later said that women still struggled to see areas such as ICT as viable career opportunities. In fact, in this area, only 18% of the workforce was female.
6. As does the gender pay gap: Nationalist MP Ivan Castillo commented on the fact that the gender pay gap still existed due to the fact that women continued to be drawn to certain sectors that are paid less than others, such as education and nursing.
7. Child-rearing still falls mainly on women: Prof. Anna Borg mentioned that short schooling hours, long summer holidays and afterschool extracurricular activities meant that looking after children still often fell upon women, by default.
Employment stereotypes still exist- Marie Briguglio
8. And boys and men need educating: Nationalist MP Graziella Attard Previ pointed out that men needed to learn about gender equality as well, including understanding the simple notion that a man’s career is not more important than that of his female partner.
9. Gender quotas could be counterproductive: Roberta Metsola tackled the issue of gender quotas, noting that, during the general election of 2022, fewer people voted for women than the previous elections, with quotas arguably being seen as a convenient safety net that would get women elected in any case.
10. Violence against women is a priority: Prof. Marceline Naudi said that equality was not possible as long as violence against women was still a reality.
Asked about progress in the field, the ministry for finance cited the free childcare scheme of 2014, Breakfast Clubs and Klabb 3-16, increases in children’s allowances, the maternity leave fund, the maternity benefit rate of self-employed women, the in-work benefit scheme and tax-breaks for women returning to the labour market.
The employment rate of women now stands at 73.6% and surpasses the EU average.
Yet, there continues to be a need for measures to address the ambitious agenda set out above – which, in all honesty, is not exhaustive. And, be they new measures announced as part of the annual budget or ongoing ones, we need to carefully consider whether they work, whether they are easy to access, how they work cumulatively and whether they generate unintended consequences.
We need to systematically research the experience of those who engage with them – and those who do not. Failure to do so is an expensive gamble for taxpayers and short-changes women.
Simply put, if we want to accelerate action, it is not enough to discuss our ailments. We also need to assess our interventions, to learn from them and to adapt them.
Marie BriguglioMarie Briguglio is an economist.
*https://www.fidem.org.mt/conference-2025