Dr Gonzi was speaking at the conclusion of a European conference entitled “Women and Men in an Enlarged Europe” at the Corinthia San Gorg Hotel in St. Julian’s.
“We now have in place the legislative and institutional frameworks to ensure equality between women and men in our country. The necessary foundations for Maltese women and men to participate equally in an enlarged Europe are in place. But in order for this vision and ambitious project to grow and materialise into a substantial improvement in the quality of life of ordinary women and men, the legislative and institutional frameworks are not enough,” the Prime Minister said.
Dr Gonzi said that everyone agrees that peace is more than the absence of war. “And similarly, I argue that equality between women and men is more than the absence of discrimination. The true cultural change required, where all persons are valued for their dignity as persons and not according to their gender, requires the concerted effort of all: government, social partners, civil society, the media, and all other components of our communities,” he said.
Dr Gonzi said that if our programme for Women and Men in an enlarged Europe is to bring forth true equality in the letter and spirit of the gender equality acquis, “then we need to build our programme on the moral conviction that no society can be truly democratic before women and men achieve full equality at all levels of society. Democracy is weakened when human rights are not upheld. And equality of opportunity is about every perso’s human right to full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society. Democracy as a foundation of our European heritage will become stronger as a result of equality between women and men in an enlarged Europe,” he said.
The Prime Minister said practically every country with a modern economic and social structure has been or is facing the challenge of reform in their social security and pensions structure. “Malta is no exception and I have personally been involved in this process over the past few years. We are now close to the stage where concrete proposals need to be put forward. The analysis of this issue in our system has clearly indicated that we have inbuilt mechanisms that militate against female participation in the economy. Rules regulating part-time work, National Insurance contributions and other aspects of the system, tend to disincentivise females from participating in our work environment. Indeed certain rules sometimes make it economically nonsensical for a female to even participate on a government appointed Board with limited remuneration or honoraria,” he said.
Dr Gonzi said this tends to push females out of the labour force or –even worse – it tends to push them into the realm of undeclared work, with all the negative consequences that this implies.
“I personally believe that an intelligent approach towards a reform exercise in this area can help us to address in concrete terms this major challenge that we all face,” he said.