Total eclipse

Driving back from Parliament last Monday I couldn't help thinking of the snail's pace at which certain things move in this country. I had just left from a debate with the Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, on the issue of subsidies in relation to the use of licensed childcare centres. One of the clauses in the Bill we were discussing reiterates the introduction of this subsidy. I pointed out to the parliamentary secretary that there are, as yet, no licensed childcare centres in Malta. Two years or so ago the same pledge was made in the budget speech and when parents went to apply for the subsidy, none of them qualified because there were - and there still are - no licensed childcare centres.

The parliamentary secretary then suggested that he adds "registered" childcare centres alongside "licensed". Which is still dicey, since the minister responsible for childcare centres is now speaking of "guidelines" and thus the decision on which centres to register and not to register will be led by mere guidelines and not regulations. The payment will then be at the discretion of the Commissioner. "Any sum proven to the satisfaction of the Commissioner to have been paid by an employer to a licensed childcare centre as fees in respect of childcare services for the children of his (sic) employees..." So it's all arbitrary. Let's just hope that the past story where the Ministry of Finance promised the subsidy for licensed centres while the Ministry of Social Solidarity had not issued the licences - and still hasn't to this day - does not repeat itself.

Maybe a timeline will be in place here. Last year in Birkirkara the Prime Minister said we must regulate childminding. A task-force had advised the Prime Minister some years ago that it ought to regulate child-minding if it seriously wants to hold on to its female human resource. Another task force prior to this one, headed by Godfrey Baldacchino, had given the same advice. In 1998 a Labour government had drafted these regulations. Nearly a decade has passed and we are well...er...still on the same spot. Snail's pace indeed. There isn't much room for optimism in other areas concerning childcare. Thousands of liri were spent on a childcare centre for Air Malta employees. An opening ceremony was held with much fanfare and with the minister playing master of ceremonies. But it turned out to be a baptism and a funeral rolled into one: after the initial celebrations, the centre was never opened again and no child ever entered it. They tell me now the state-of-the art children's playroom is being used by the airline's pilots.

On the other hand, where a childcare service has been provided at the place of work for the past 10 years, we recently got the news that it will be disrupted. We now know that on the premises of the new multi-million liri hospital Mater Dei, there will be no childcare centre as there is at old St Luke's. The area which had been planned for a childcare centre at the new hospital will instead be used for offices. That's progress for us.

The Kalkara pilot childcare centre in collaboration with the local council was abandoned after the 1998 elections, while that with the Zejtun local council has been refused the government aid it had been promised.

Now, on the eve of the local elections, two ministers announced that we shall have childcare centres in schools. On following closely what was being said, it transpires that the government is still studying the feasibility of the project and trying to identify the locations. Normally things are done the other way round. But the important thing is that the news was given during the local elections campaign as part of the government's public relations exercise. If only all the projects we hear about materialise....

Childcare is not the only area where many parents - especially women as our labour data shows - continue to struggle to reach the much talked about work-life balance. We have been speaking of the low participation of women in the labour force for the past 20 years and the number remains close to what it was two decades ago. What is happening in practice? A particular case which we have been reading about, and which I personally came across, is that of parents working on reduced hours at the Central Bank.

These parents can work on reduced hours until their child is four years old. If they need, they may ask for another two years, according to their collective agreement. But that is considered a concession given at the discretion of the management. These extra two years of work on reduced hours have not been allowed to the parents in question.

The result is that the bank will probably lose the experience and skills of some of its employees. To cite just one example, one mother who has been employed with the bank for 20 years and has two children, one aged six and the other four, has to rely on her octogenerian parents to pick up one child, and who then go to her house to wait for the other child. This is because this mother has to now work well after her children's school hours. The situation is untenable and because the bank will not extend the reduced hours work schedule for another two years, it will probably lose a trained and experienced human resource.

In the meantime, while we are still going round in circles on basic issues such as childcare and reduced hours, the European socialists are using this year's women's day to mark the gender pay gap. Another reality which stems from the differences in the working lives of women and men includes that coming from discrimination, the fact that top jobs are in their majority filled by men, to other issues such as the fact that more women work part-time - as their primary job - and more women work in the lower-paid public sector.

The European Socialists are calling for the shutting of this pay gap. Ten years ago a Labour government had conducted a study on how best to address this issue; the report must be gathering dust in some ministry.

International Women's Day comes so that we may use it to draw attention to, and evaluate, progress done in such a vital area of social and economic progress as gender equality. We have not come to the point yet where there is no need for Women's Day. That would be the ideal. But there is still a lot to be done as shown by the foregoing and many other issues, such as the low rate of the participation of women in the labour market. Such as shown by the need for a breast-screening programme for women at a high risk of developing breast cancer...

We will today again hear many platitudes and the day will be eclipsed by local council electioneering, as in previous years. Which is a pity, but maybe a blessing in disguise for those wishing to downplay the real and serious needs of Maltese women.

Helena Dalli is a sociologist and Labour's main spokesman for public function and women's rights.