To commemorate International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on 8 March, and to keep alive the debate on further efforts needed for full equality in society, MEUSAC and Europe Direct Valletta have organised an online public discussion, with the theme, ‘Equal Society, Complete Society’, on Thursday 4 March 2021.
The discussion dealt with different aspects related to the efforts for greater equality in today’s society. These themes stem from the European Union’s Strategy for Gender Equality 2020-2025.
The discussion focused on how in recent decades, the European Union has made significant progress on gender equality, where 14 out of the 20 countries in the world that are renowned for gender equality are Member States of the EU. However, no Member State has achieved full gender equality and progress is slow.
In the 2020 EU Gender Equality Index, Member States achieved an average of 67.9 percentage points. Since 2005, this score has only improved by almost 6 points. Malta is among the most advanced member states, with an advancement of 10 points in the last 10 years.
In his address Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela said that the fight for equality is a fight for the right to live in a society that is fair and complete and that does not depend on gender or the state of life. He pointed out that despite the reduction in gender inequality in education, the same does not apply to employment, wages, care, leadership positions and in decision making. Stereotypes, sexist hate speech, gender-based violence and harassment are still prevalent. That is why discussions that are similar to the one like today’s are important, explained the Minister.
He explained the Government’s work in recent years in this area, where work has been done to ensure an increase in female labour market participation and work towards greater economic independence for women through flexibility in working hours and practices and the implementation of the Directive on work-life balance.
The Minister also spoke about the constitutional amendments that will allow additional seats for the under-represented sex that has obtained less than 40% of Parliamentary seats in a general election, stating how this is the tangible way to move towards action where necessary to put an end to inequalities. He explained that these changes will lead to a more balanced representation by women in the national Parliament.
“Our country is moving in the right direction and with this work we are seeing that we achieve our goals in equality, so that here too, we will not reach but also surpass the rest of Europe in this matter,” insisted Minister Abela.
MEUSAC CEO Mandy Falzon said that “It is an honour, not only as the CEO of this Agency, but also as a woman, to continue driving forward discussions on matters that the European Union pushes and which affect each one of us. This is being done through more information, awareness and debates on initiatives in the EU on equality and against discrimination and also through assistance in practice to organisations so that they can continue investing in EU-funded projects on research, educational campaigns and other activities.”
