Gender equality at university came under the spotlight yesterday morning during the third in a series of conferences organised by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality.
Mary Darmanin, a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, said there were so few women professors - just three or four - that the European Union refused to include Malta's figures in its statistics so that the statistical average for the EU would not be drastically reduced.
Commission chief executive Sina Bugeja said it was unacceptable that in today's world there were women who could achieve more but were blocked from taking certain positions.
A maths teacher said that her son, who is studying mechanical engineering, described to her how male students mocked questions put by their female counterparts. This, she said, was putting females off certain courses.
Ms Bugeja said: "It is shocking that the system is keeping some women from going for the careers they want."
A young man reading commerce claimed that a woman lecturer implied it was better to employ men since they did not have to take maternity leave.
Ms Bugeja retorted that although women of childbearing age might take maternity leave, International Labour Organisation data showed that men in their 40s take more sick leave than their female counterparts.
When asked, the Rector's Office said the University would be promoting gender equality and any "concrete reported cases of discrimination" would be acted upon. The University has its own Gender Issues Committee.
On the low number of women professors, the Rector's Office said there were fixed criteria for promotion to Associate Professor and Professor that were applicable to both male and female members of staff.
However, it said that for the first time ever the University had a woman pro-rector for student and international affairs.
The conference, held at the Dolmen Hotel, also heard about the importance of giving young children the same choices, irrespective of their age, starting with the toys they played with. Primary schoolchildren also need to be brought up to challenge gender stereotypes.
In fact, women in some countries are doing just that. Last January, six women bankers filed a much publicised lawsuit against Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Services, claiming sexual discrimination.
Ms Bugeja said that although women in Malta were still far from reaching this stage, they were moving in the right direction.
"We cannot expect changes overnight, but it will happen," she said.
Yesterday's conference analysed two studies - on career paths of graduates and family-friendly measures in the workplace - which the commission is embarking upon with the help of EU funds.