Women live more, graduate more, but earn less and are at greater risk of poverty

Women make up 49.7% of the total population in Malta and women live on average four years longer than men, according to data released by the National Statistics Office on Women’s.

At the end of December 2016, the female population in Malta and Gozo stood at 228,634.

Year on year, there were more male resident births than female ones registered in Malta and Gozo.

In 2016, female live births numbered 2,111 compared to 2,365 male live births.

In the same year, life expectancy for females at birth stood at 84.4 years while for males it was 80.6 years. This partly explains why population counts for both sexes remain relatively close despite the fact that male births outnumber female ones.

Education

The number of female students enrolled in post-secondary and tertiary education institutions during academic year 2015-2016 stood at 12,645 or 52.4% of total enrolments. Among those enrolled in the 15-24 age bracket, 51.9% were females.

Moreover, 59.2 % of the students who graduated at the tertiary level were females.

Technology

In 2017, 95.3% of women used the internet on a daily basis against 92.6% of men.

Both women and men went online mainly for communication and access to information purposes.

However, the female percentages in this regard were higher, for example, 97.1% of women compared to 94.7% of men for communication.

Employment

Figures from the Labour Force Survey show that the highest female employment rate (64.3%) was in the 25-54 age bracket. On average an employed female worked around 35 hours per week, which is six hours less than her male counterpart.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate for women was nearly one percentage point higher than that for men, at 5%. The highest unemployment rate (10.9%) was among females aged between 15 and 24.

Between 2014 and 2016, the overall gender pay gap increased by 0.4 percentage points showing that by 2016, men were paid 11.0% more than women.

The gap is highest for the 65+ cohort (21.1%) followed by the 35-44 cohort (13.1%).

Between 2014 and 2016, an overall drop of 4.3 percentage points was recorded in the cohort 35-64.

Living conditions

Despite a decrease in percentage difference since 2014, at risk of poverty or social exclusion rates show that women are more at risk of poverty or social exclusion than men. In 2016, there were an estimated 42,587 women at risk of poverty or social exclusion compared to 51,298 in 2014.

In 2014 and 2015, women in the 0-17 age group were the most at risk of poverty or social exclusion. By 2016 there was a shift whereby women in the 65+ cohort were the most vulnerable, and those who were separated or widowed were at a higher risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Expenditure patterns

The Household Budgetary Survey (HBS) 2015 shows that out of 164,815 households, 36% of the heads of household (breadwinners) were women.

IN addition, households with a male breadwinner, on average, spent €4,496 more than households with a female head of household.

An analysis of household expenditure distribution from a gender perspective indicates that households with a female head of household tend to spend bigger shares on Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and Food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Their male counterparts are more likely to spend a larger proportion of their household expenditure on Transport and Restaurants and hotels.