The gender gap in pensions in Malta is the widest in Europe, together with that of the Netherlands, according to a European report.

According to the report, pay inequalities in employment extend to older age too, including the gender gap in pensions, which stands at 37 per cent to the disadvantage of EU women.

Pay gaps accumulate over people’s lives - wages and other earnings over the life course determine old-age pension entitlements.

The widest gender gaps in pensions were noted in the Netherlands and Malta (above 45 per cent) with the narrowest in Estonia (two per cent), according to a report by the European Institute for Gender Equality.

The gender pay gap revealed different realities that people face in their professional and personal lives, the institute said. Today, women across the EU earn on average 16 per cent less per hour than men.

We must get rid of gender stereotypes that underpin the pay gap

Minding the gender gap

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

In Europe, the widest gap in earnings is among couples with children, indicating that the financial cost of having a family falls heavily on women’s shoulders.

“Women are using flexible work arrangements to juggle work and family life but this is rarely the case for men. Our report shows that work-life balance initiatives can help boost women’s employment and close the gender pay gap but only if both women and men have support from their employers to take advantage of these measures,” institute director Virginija Langbakk said.

The gender pay gap is a result of many factors: women are concentrated in lower level and lower paid jobs, work more (both paid and unpaid) hours, take longer career breaks and are more likely to choose part-time work to reconcile work and care responsibilities.

“We must get rid of gender stereotypes that underpin the pay gap, starting with the uneven concentration of women and men in the labour market. Women dominate fields that are less valued and lower paid, such as education or care work. At the same time, women are less likely to be in top management roles and this needs to change,” she added.

Even higher education does not protect women from earning less, according to the institute, which noted that women with a tertiary degree faced a wider pay gap of 25 per cent. As they moved up the career ladder, the pay gap widened.

The institute referred to the EU’s Directive on Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers, noting it was aimed at improving access to parental leave and flexible working as well as increase the take-up of such arrangements by men.

Led and negotiated by Nationalist MEP David Casa, the directive was given the green light in April to become law by the European Parliament.