Malta's most prominent companies are run almost exclusively by men, a gender equality study has shown.
Out of every 100 board members in the country's largest companies, only 16 are women, the EU-wide Gender Equality Index (GEI) for 2023 says.
The GEI monitors gender equality progress across the EU over time. It measures gender gaps in six core domains:
- work;
- money;
- knowledge;
- time;
- power; and
- health
using a scale from 1 (total inequality) to 100 (total equality).
In this year's index, Malta scored 67.8, an improvement from last year's score- of 65.6.
However, the country is well below average when measuring how power is spread between genders. Although it improved its score on power by five points to 45.3, it still has the ninth-lowest ranking in this category.
The GEI power category measures gender equality in political, economic and social decision-making positions.
Besides an apparent disparity in business, the study shows that most elected politicians are men.
Even the country's share of ministers is 80% male, compared to the EU's 66%.
Out of the 25 cabinet members of cabinet, only five are women.
The index also notes that a third of research funding organisation board members are women.
Overall, Malta slipped one place in the EU-wide Gender Equality Index (GEI) to now rank 14th among the 27 EU states in spite of improving its overall score.
Despite having a lower-than-average score, the European Institute for Gender Equality, the organisation that runs the index, put Malta in the "catching up" category.
Malta shares the category with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, and Portugal.
The "catching up" countries have index scores lower than the EU average but are making faster improvements over time, reducing the gap between them and the EU.
Malta does particularly well in health, work, and money but poorly in time and power.
Using Eurostat data, the GEI shows that women in Malta have a higher life expectancy (84) than men (81) and are less likely to smoke or have a drinking problem. But men are more likely to see themselves as healthy.
Fewer women are employed than men, but women have slightly higher career prospects.
Women are more likely to spend more time caring for relatives, cooking and doing housework, the report says.
Meanwhile, men are almost twice as likely to spend their time doing cultural, leisure or sports activities outside the home.
In a statement, Malta's National Commission for the Promotion of Equality said:
"The NCPE acknowledged and closely monitored Malta's position in the GEI 2023.
"While it has witnessed commendable progress in certain domains, it also recognises the persistent challenges that require our collective attention and commitment," it said.