It is useless urging women to go back to work unless there is a culture shift in men’s mentality, research analyst James Carabott told the House of Representatives Social Affairs Committee last week.

Mr Carabott, the research analyst for the Social Affairs Committee, was giving a presentation about a conference on the family organised by the European Documentation and Research Centre of the University of Malta.

The woman’s role in society cannot change unless the man starts helping more with domestic work and the family, said Mr Carabott.

“For example, women should no longer be associated with cleaning the house. Although many women go out to work, they are still expected to shoulder the bulk of the housework,” he said.

This means that Maltese culture has to relearn everything especially where the division of labour is concerned.

Nationalist MP Michael Gonzi queried if life skills courses are given to young couples before they get married.

“Unless they are provided with help, they will face many problems when they have children,” said Dr Gonzi.

Children are often left out of the equation especially when both parents have careers and lack of communication is one of the main problems families face.

“It is important that these things are sorted out before the couple get married. The courses need to point out the direction and way for these couples,” Dr Gonzi emphasised.

Mr Carabott said the Cana Movement and Agenzija Apogg do provide courses for engaged couples but pointed out that only Roman Catholic couples who get married in church attend.

The conference discussed the various ways the family has changed over the years, before the community used to take care of children and it was mainly a patriarchal society.

However, he added, many sociologists at the conference said they still see these types of families in rural areas.

It was also pointed out that certain definitions of the “family” can be too restrictive and does not include gay families, foster and community families or children who are brought up by their grandparents.

One of the workshops held during the conference said the definition of a family needed to be broadened to include different types and called for family law to assist disabled children.

According to the statistics, Malta has a decreasing birth rate and an ageing population, Mr Carabott said.

The number of single mothers is on the increase and there are lower rates of first marriages. Cohabitation is also becoming more common and more and more children are taken care of by their grandparents while their parents are at work, said Mr Carabott.

Between 1994 and 2003, there were 2,479 marriages; in 2000, there were 632 separations in Malta and 41 in Gozo, said Mr Carabott.

“The crude marriage rate was 5.9 compared to 16.2 in 1945,” he added.

Mr Carabott explained that the crude marriage rate is the number of marriages of the population in a given geographical area during a given year, per 1,000 mid-year total populations.

The percentage of single mothers increased from 10.6 in 2000 to 19.8 last year, said Mr Carabott.

However, he pointed out, there are more remarriages in Malta and more stepfamilies.

Emphasis was also made on how Malta should further include minorities and different ethnic groups in local culture.