The gender pay gap in Malta has risen to rather disconcerting 11 per cent across all sectors according to statistics provided by Eurostat.

Data also presented at a Gender Pay Gap conference held  at San Anton Palace on Friday showed that the gender pay gay increased with age and with further education.

“It is shocking to acknowledge that the gender pay gap in Malta has risen to 11% in 2018. The overall earning gap stands at nearly 50% according to the latest Eurostat reports,” said President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, when addressing the event.

The conference was organised by the President’s Foundation for the Well-being of Society together with emPOWer, the platform for women’s organisations, the Centre for Labour Studies at the University of Malta, the National Statistics Office, the National Forum of Trade Unions, and Ernst and Young.

With reference to Malta, the President said that, “ although there have been a number of important steps forward for women’s economic empowerment, in particular, in the increased rate of gainfully occupied women, now is the time to address the challenge of the gender pay gap.”

The definition of gender pay gap is the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of male and female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees.

The statistics drawn up by the NSO covered economic activities with the highest gender pay gap rates.

Financial and Insurance activities experience the highest gender pay gap with a difference of 28 per cent. Professional, scientific and technical activities saw a gender pay gap rate difference of 23 per cent. Information and communication sees a difference of 20 per cent; arts, entertainment and recreation activities has a difference of 19 per cent; wholesale and retail trade and manufacturing 18 per cent.

The gender pay gap also increases with age, with the highest percentage difference of 12 per cent from the ages of 35-44 years.

Likewise the same correlation is observed in gender pay gap increasing as the level of education increases. A basic education sees a gender pay gap difference of 10 per cent whilst a secondary to post-secondary education has 12 per cent gender pay gap difference. However the prominent gender pay gap increase is at tertiary education with a difference 18 per cent.

An additional aspect analysed was enterprises in which data revealed that the gender pay gap decreases the bigger the enterprise. A small enterprise with 10-49 employees has a gender pay gap difference of 14 per cent, that with 50-249 employees has a 12 per cent gap and those with 250 plus employees have a 9 per cent difference.

The President referred to the latest European Institute for Gender Equality Index which indicates that the share of Maltese women, who are members of boards in the largest quoted companies, is only 3.8 per cent, compared to an EU average of 21.7 per cent.

When it comes to the share of board members of Malta’s Central Bank, 20 per cent are women as opposed to 80 per cent of men. In comparison to men, women still tend to be employed less, are employed in lower-paid sectors, work on average six hours longer per week than men but have fewer paid hours, and face fewer and slower promotions.

The President concluded that we need to find innovative ways to address this troubling situation, especially in our own society, and hoped these indicators will provide valuable food for thought during the conference. Although many individuals and organisations within our business sector are well intentioned, appropriate strategies to address the issue of the gender pay gap are still missing.