Gender Equality – power and time holding us back

According to the Gender Equality Index, published earlier this month by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Malta improved by a mere 2.4 points since 2015 and is still lacking behind the European average by almost five points.

With a score of 62.5 out of 100, Malta has ranked 15th in the EU – the same ranking we had in 2005. So even though we’ve improved our score from 56.0 in 2015 to 62.5 in 2017, in 12 whole years there has been no movement in our ranking when compared to other member states.

The study focuses on six core domains – work, money, knowledge, time, power and health, and guess which two factors are contributing the most to Mala’s lag?

Power and time

Malta scores higher than the EU average in every domain but when it comes to the domains of time and power, we score the lowest – 32.2 and 64.2 points respectively.

As an employment lawyer, a mother, and also a politician, I know that time and power are the hardest part of the glass ceiling to break.

Malta has improved a lot in the domains of work and money, both increasing by more than 12 points, and we scored highest in the domain of health (92.1points), but because our progress has been so slow in the areas of power and time, over all we have remained well below the EU average.

When it comes to the domain of time we are close to the EU average (65.7), but in the power domain we’re almost 20 points lower than the EU average, which takes us all the way down to 22nd place (out of 28) when compared to other EU member states.

So, if the power domain is our biggest challenge, let’s dig deep and see what it all about.

According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), “the domain of power measures gender equality in decision-making positions across the political, economic and social spheres. The sub-domain of political power examines the representation of women and men in national parliaments, government and regional/local assemblies. The sub-domain of gender-balance in economic decision-making is measured by the proportion of women and men on corporate boards of the largest nationally registered companies listed on stock exchanges and national Central banks. The Gender Equality Index for the first time presents data in the sub-domain of social power, which includes data on decision-making in researchfunding organisations, media and sports.”

Money and work

When we dissect Malta’s findings in this particular domain we find that the women still earn less than men - an average of 12c less for every Euro that men earn, and while 95 per cent of men are in full-time employment or equivalent, only 56 per cent of women are. So, the problem is twofold – there are far fewer women in full-time employment than men, and those who are employed, gain 12 per cent less than their male counterparts. According to the report, parenthood still affects women more than it does men, thus limiting their participation in the labour market. In fact, the gap is much higher when it comes to couples with children.

Political power

Malta made an overall 4.4-point improvement since 2005, because we improved in the sub domain of social power, but when it came to economic power, our score plummeted. In the sub-domain of political power Malta lost six per cent in female ministers and then gained per cent in its share of female members of parliament.

And while Malta registered a faster increase in women graduates, access to flexible working arrangements is still lower than the EU average, thus making it harder for women graduates to manage family responsibilities and a career

“Flexible working arrangements, such as opportunities to transition between part-time and full-time work, flexibility in working hours and remote work, typically give employees a greater ability to control how much, when and where they can work. If carefully designed — keeping in mind the different needs of women and men — flexible working arrangements can make it easier to balance work and family life. They can also support people with caring responsibilities to enter the labour market as full-time employees,” concludes the report.

A recent study, published in October 2018 by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) showed that more than 85 per cent of female members of parliament suffered psychological violence in the course of their term of office. Almost 50 per cent had received death threats or threats of rape or beating. Almost 70 per cent had been the target of comments relating to their physical appearance or based on gender stereotypes and 25 per cent had suffered sexual violence.

There can’t be one without the other

What we might not be realising is that gender equality and economic success complement each other. By bringing and keeping more women in the labour market with fair and sustainable jobs, our economy grows and is more resilient. Research also shows that women in decision-making positions bring new and different perspectives to the table and are more adept at collaborating across teams, thus resulting in more holistic environments and administrations. And with more than 60 per cent of EU graduates in the EU being women, it would be a shame not to utilize that talent well.

Despite free child care being introduced nationwide, we are still lagging way behind in the domain of work and power, so we need to work harder to create better conditions to encourage more women to join the labour market and politics – from flexible hours, to same pay for same work, from paid parental leave for both men and women to a serious plan to combat sexual harassment of female politicians.

The conclusion is that more needs to be done and equal opportunities must be achieved sooner rather than later.