It was amusing to learn that Maltese women are supposedly – at least according to EU jargon – among the most inactive in Europe. According to the latest EU employment report we, as in we Maltese and Gozitan women, are the ones who can work outside the home but most often choose not to. Among the 15-64 year-olds, few women are in employment, and this is a bad thing according to the Lisbon strategy.
I sometimes wonder why the EU and its key spokespersons are surprised that it (the EU) is so unpopular. Is it really realistic for a central body to tell each country what percentage of its women and/or mothers, in many cases, should or should not work?
Let’s get real. Many, many Maltese women choose not to work, particularly while their children are young or youngish.
They often continue to choose not to work as the kids get older because it is, after all, a myth that once they reach 10, you can easily dash out to work, because they still need you when they come home.
They still need ferrying to endless lessons, they still need enough time, and not this dreadful misnomer of “quality time”. Parents with one child or helpful grandparents, or who can afford nannies, are in a special league, but for most mums with two or three kids, working in any sort of a career, while running the home and giving enough time to the kids, is a nearly impossible dream.
And then, of course, if you spend 10 to 15 years out of the working world, or in fits of part-time, non-lucrative work, you are not suddenly going to become the most desirable element in the job market when you decide to pursue a career at the age of 40!
You will be competing with all the men who have been there all the time and all the bright young graduates, fresh from their university course.
And for those of you who don’t believe looks matter in the working world, wake up. Most interviewers take their decision in the first 20 seconds of someone walking into the room, and with women they probably decide in the first 10!
The truth is that it is a luxury, but most Maltese women choose not to work because they can still just about afford to. In a sense, that is something we don’t need to feel ashamed of as a country. Per-haps when the EU is setting targets for countries from its luxurious offices and over-paid MEPs, it would do well to consider why it is increasingly being regarded, at least by the man and women in the street, as an annoying irrelevance.
People don’t want the EU to tell them whether mums should or should not work. In some of the richest European countries, such as Switzerland, women with children rarely work and even more rarely work full time. Does this mean the Swiss economy is doing any worse than, say, the UK economy, which has a high rate of women working, or in gainful employment, to be more precise?
Does it mean that Swiss women are less well off financially than British women, or more stressed? It’s doubtful.
The tide is turning, and more and more women are deciding they do want to devote more time to their children. They don’t want to put their babies in nurseries, however well run and EU regulation-compliant they are. We are having fewer and fewer kids, but I think we are valuing parenthood and the precious years we have with our kids more and more.
That’s why many couples are increasingly downsizing abroad. That means taking a drop in income to have more quality in their lives, which means more time with children, both for dads and mums.
What a meaningless and unhappy life many of us are being driven to. First we have to blow our brains out on studies which we hardly ever use, from say age six to age 22. Then we mums and dads have to abandon the children and devote ourselves to careers, and we end up in middle age before we know it. Is it really worth it?
EU strategies and strategists must also look at the quality of life. Time with your children is a luxury we have been able to afford as a nation, and one which we should be proud of, too. Women bringing up children regarded as inactive by the EU! Who needs to grow up and become relevant, I wonder?