Women mean business

Research shows that women in executive positions give an added value to their organisations as they report a better financial performance more frequently.

Mand women have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights that enable better problem solving, ultimately leading to superior performance. By increasing women leaders, organisations foster diversity in service provision. Such organisations will thus have a more diverse group of high-calibre leaders to drive their business.

In this context and in order to address the challenge of gender imbalance, the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) has developed an online Directory of Professional Women that aims to give visibility to professional women and their competences. This Directory is an online database with profiles of professional women from various fields and backgrounds. It includes information about the qualifications, experiences, skills and areas of interest.

According to the latest study of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), three out of 13 members of the key decision-making bodies of the Central Bank of Malta are women. These figures clearly define the persisting underrepresentation of women in the Maltese economic sphere. Moreover, only four per cent of the board members of the country’s largest companies are women. These figures underline the need of action to be taken to bring about an increase in the number of women leaders in such organisations.

There are organisations in Malta that are excelling in recruiting and involving women by cultivating the female talent they have on board and helping women realise their full potential, as well as supporting women by creating a culture that is merit-based to enable women work their way to the top. Such initiatives need to increase.

Through the visibility provided by the Directory of Professional Women, women are in a better position to be ap-