An exhibition at the University of Malta is celebrating ‘Women and Higher Education’, highlighting the achievements of females who have graduated since the university was founded 100 years ago.

But while women now outnumber men when it comes to completing third-level education in Malta – at 65% – that success does not always translate to the workplace.

“Unfortunately, in Malta because it is so small, it can still be a case of ‘who you know’,” said academic Clare Vassallo, who last week chaired an event surrounding the topic.

“While things are improving in Malta, there is still a gap when it comes to the number of women who hold powerful positions. It’s natural that anyone, male or female, will nominate people for a board whom they can trust, so because of this, men tend to pick other men they know. But ultimately women suffer.”

Women continue to fall behind financially, she said.

“Yes, there is full employment, but who wants to earn the minimum wage? The higher earners are still men. Women need to be in positions to take decisions that facilitate other women’s lives – because men don’t think of certain things, not because men are against them.

Men tend to pick other men they know. But ultimately women suffer

“That is how the improvements in pre-school child-care came about. And this has had significant impact on women’s employment.”

It is a problem that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is openly aware of.

Last week, he acknowledged that Malta’s talent shortage came down to a gender issue and promised he is addressing it:

“With in-work benefits and other initiatives that we’ve taken, as a long-term policy perspective, that participation number has risen.”

Raphael Vella, who curated the exhibition, said artist Charlie Cauchi interviewed many female students, past and present, for her segment.

“Her results were very interesting,” he said. “It felt like no two women had a single experience of attending the University or as a graduate. Some said their studies had helped their career, others said it hadn’t.

“It feels like a contradiction when the EU says Malta has one of the highest rates of female graduates, but then culturally, networking definitely has an impact on getting a job or in more cases a promotion.

“Even at the University of Malta we see this juxtaposition. We ourselves know that more female students are graduating from all but three of our main courses, engineering, information communications and technology, and architecture. However, even within our own staff, there aren’t as many females at the top of the ladder.”

The exhibition Women and Higher Education runs until November 29 at the University of Malta’s Valletta Campus.