Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that Malta’s feminist approach to increase more female participation in the labour market through an array of measures which promote and facilitate the financial independence of women, has led to a significant reduction in poverty in Malta.

He spoke on the same day in which it was revealed that 14,000 cannot afford two pairs of shoes and 11,000 cannot replace worn out clothes.

Addressing the Commonwealth Women’s Forum in London, the Prime Minister said that measures such as universal free childcare for all working parents, pre- and after school services, the commitment to start tackling gender pay gap, and other measures that include the highest international standard on gender-based violence and domestic violence in national law, have led to stronger economic and employment equality for women.

The Prime Minister said that Malta is currently working on the introduction of mechanisms to implement the principle of equal pay for work of equal value in practice. While having this principle enshrined in law is in itself a very good first step, we cannot leave it unmonitored and expect women to carry the burden of reporting and bring cases against instances of breaches of this principle. It is our duty as a government to protect women against what is effectively theft of the money they are due.

“It is this same bold approach that we are advocating for the Commonwealth. We need to step up our collective commitment and introduce monitoring mechanisms to guarantee that the pledges made at this and future Commonwealth summits are followed through, said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.