As part of the Women Political Leaders’ International Women’s Day campaign, I was asked to send a short message for publication. I wrote: “Gender balance will be achieved the day when women and men are represented at all levels of society in equal measure, and when gender targets become unnecessary. Women’s Day will no longer be a call for action but a celebration of equality.”
True, we made big steps, for instance, in the direction of increasing women in the labour market by providing the necessary support structures, so that more women are financially independent, which is of the essence for a person’s autonomy.
We have also advanced in the area of having more women in top positions, such as the judiciary and the European Parliament. We have legislated so that women have full protection from violence when we strengthened our legislation in line with the Istanbul Convention. We created the maternity leave fund so that women are not discriminated against at the point of entry in employment.
But patriarchal culture remains one of the biggest barriers and so, apart from dealing with concrete direct measures to achieve results such as those mentioned above, other steps are necessary in order to be able to celebrate equality.
One such step in this direction has been the setting up of a Gender Mainstreaming Unit within the Human Rights and Integration Directorate (HRID). This unit will develop a Gender Equality Mainstreaming Strategy and Action Plan and will take care of the process towards a Gender Equality Mainstreaming Bill.
The unit will serve as the main governmental gender-mainstreaming coordinating body, liaising with various entities, imparting information and ensuring policy adherence to the principle of gender equality.
The gender-mainstreaming unit is collaborating with the Consultative Council for Women’s Rights to identify and address the gender gaps and structural barriers that limit women from reaching their full potential. This is to tackle those barriers that persist in many areas, which perpetuate gender stereotypes and limit women’s ability to achieve what they are capable of.
Following initial research, it was decided that the strategy addresses eight pillars: the right to equal treatment; equal access and opportunity to the workplace and narrowing the gender pay gap; financial independence; equal access and opportunity to knowledge and education; co-responsibility and balance of work, private and family life; equal access and opportunity to positions of authority for women and men; equal access and opportunity to health and general wellbeing; and intersectionality.
In our lifetime Women’s Day will continue to be a call for action
These pillars come from the European Institute for Gender Equality’s Gender Equality Index, in which Malta has placed 15th for the second time running.
Today I shall be launching a public consultation in order to get feedback from governmental entities, civil society organisations and the public, to highlight the main measures required for further progress of women in our society. This process will also serve as a means to reach out to potential critics and ensure that once the strategy and the Bill are launched, they have the widest support possible.
This strategy is to provide a medium-term vision for the enactment of gender equality measures and to establish a framework for the advancement and empowerment of women in society, both vertically and horizontally.
It will provide policy direction for governmental entities and other stakeholders, with the intention of guaranteeing high standards in this area. The strategy will follow others developed by the HRID in conjunction with key partners, namely: Society’s Concern – Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence Strategy and Action Plan – Vision 2020; Integration = Belonging – Migrant Integration Strategy & Action Plan – Vision 2020; and the LGBTIQ Strategy & Action Plan 2018-2022.
In view of the fact that a dedicated strategy and action plan to tackle gender-based violence and domestic violence was adopted in 2017 and remains active until the end of 2020, the two strategies will now be complementing one another.
The Commission on Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence and the Gender Mainstreaming Unit are already collaborating and working closely together as this is crucial for a 360° approach to gender equality.
In our lifetime Women’s Day will continue to be a call for action. We must nonetheless continue to work hard so that for future generations, Women’s Day will indeed be a celebration of equality.
Happy Women’s Day.
Helena Dalli is Minister for European Affairs and Equality.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece