Ms Borg was speaking at the official launch of the first manual for Gender Sensitive Vocational Guidance, which she co-wrote. As many as 66 per cent of women are inactive in the labour market and it is necessary to get to the root of the problem in order to rectify it.

Ms Borg explained that raising awareness among guidance counsellors may help motivate more women to take up a career instead of becoming housewives.

With the right training, school counsellors will have the ability to change future generations by helping to break down the stereotypical gender roles that have been set by society, she said. Gender biases limit choices, hamper aspirations and slow down progress. This is something Malta cannot afford.

Ms Borg explained that the result will not be immediate but is a long-term investment. All opportunities will be open to every boy and girl without gender constraints and Malta should then be able to tap into all its human resources.

Although more female than male students are currently attending university, most of the female students can be found within the education faculty and the Institute of Health Care.

These are the two faculties considered stereotypically female. Only a small percentage of female university students follow the engineering course, which shows that there are still preconceptions of what women should study and which career path they should follow.

The situation at MCAST is even further behind, Ms Borg continued, with only one girl for every two boys attending the school. This must be rectified – hopefully through the education of guidance counsellors

and Personal and Social Development (PSD) teachers.

Education, Youth and Employment minister Louis Galea, who was also at the launch, explained that working women have a “double role”. Since women have traditionally been considered to be the home-makers, they have to keep up with their career and their family responsibilities.

There are three main issues that must be addressed, he said. Men’s mentality has to change in that they must be educated not to have preconceived expectations of the women in their lives.

He explained that the guidance counsellors play a vital role in breaking down the gender bias attached to certain jobs. This raised consciousness, together with legislative support, should help Malta move towards the eradication of gender bias, said Dr Galea. He explained that although young people are becoming more open-minded, their role models in society still affect their vision.

The manual for Gender Sensitive Vocational Guidance is a powerful learning tool which will hopefully improve the guidance counsellors’ gender sensitivity and encourage them to fight gender bias.

The Malta Independent asked Ms Borg whether resistance from parents is to be expected. She said that there is a definite need to educate the older generations as well and the organisation plans to use guidance counsellors as intermediary figures to raise awareness among students’ parents.

Hard copies of this manual are not on sale but a PDF copy can be downloaded free of charge from the publications section of the ETC website www.etc.org.mt