Reflections... Post women's day

Now that Women's Day 2004 is past, I would like to move away from the rhetoric of the day and analyse concretely a couple of important aspects of concern and which are causing economic and social havoc in the lives of Maltese women. This post reflection is aimed at stimulating focused action not only by the government but also to generate a bigger sense of fraternity among Maltese women at large.

I would like to commence with the situation in the labour market. We are not only lagging behind the European Union's standards with regard to women's participation in the job market but also unemployment among Maltese women is soaring high. Statistics clearly indicate that between January 2003 and January 2004, the rate of unemployment increased by 31 per cent while with regard to our Gozitan sisters the rate soared by 52 per cent. Even more alarming is the rising rate of unemployment among young women in our country for the same period, which escalated by 28 per cent whilst, again even more alarming, is the rate for young women in Gozo which has hit the 59 per cent mark.

I would also like to refer to the lack of a national policy with regard to family-friendly working structures and systems. We are long overdue when compared to our continental counterparts. Teleworking is still a far cry. Flexi-hours or reduced hours are still for the privileged few! Parental leave alone does not solve this issue.

On the other hand, the issue of the feminisation of poverty is in our midst too. Official statistics once again indicate that the number of women at the risk of poverty is greater than the number of Maltese men. Maltese women aged 50 and over exceed the number of Maltese men by six per cent.

While this situation stares us in the face, little or none is done to focus on the proper priorities that target these issues. It is so sad to realise that this unfortunate situation will not be much better in the near future as women within the structures of our decision-making bodies are still very few. The same applies for women in public life and on the political scene.

It seems we are regressing rather than progressing in this sphere. It is enough to take an analytical look at the last local council elections in 2003. A decrease of 3.8 per cent has been registered in the number of women contestants as a percentage of total contestants. Another drop has been registered in the number of first count votes polled by women, down from 22.2 per cent in 2000 to 20.6 per cent in 2003.

Another important feature of women in public life is that which concerns the representation of women on boards and committees as a proportion of total members. This has decreased by 0.5 per cent since December 2002.

All this needs serious analysis, serious planning and serious concrete actions. It does not need to be Women's Day for this. If Maltese women will continue to be absent or nearly absent from the hub of our economic, social and political structures, Malta will be thoroughly handicapped. We continuously talk of consensus on various aspects of our economic and social policies. This is an area where consensus can be sought. Thus, let's get together and move on in the right direction for the good of all of our society.

Ms Coleiro is the opposition's main spokesman on social solidarity.