Dr Myriam Spiteri Debono, president of the Labour Party’s women’s organisation, said that this year Malta will mark the 60th anniversary of the 1947 general election, which was the first universal suffrage election ever held in Malta.

Since then, said Dr Spiteri Debono, the role of women in society has changed, yet there was still a lot to be done for women to feel they were really and truly full members of Maltese society.

Mrs Spiteri Debono, in a message marking Women’s Day, said that in the legislative sphere, women’s presence in parliament has been very low in these 60 years. In this regard, the organisation’s executive supported the MLP document on equality which was approved during the last MLP general conference.

The statement covered also working conditions, parenting and legal recognition for unmarried couples.

Dr Spiteri Debono called for the removal of the 20-hour threshold which a worker must surpass in order to be eligible for benefits. She said certain employers make their employees work 19 hours so that they would not have to dish out benefits. Women who have to tend to their families were badly hit by this measure, said Dr Spiteri Debono.

She called for legislation that would permit men and women to better manage their working and parenting roles, pointing out that women are at present forced to sacrifice their careers for their family.

Legal recognition for unmarried couples was a must in order to protect the financially weaker person, who tended to be the woman, said Dr Spiteri Debono. Although offspring are entitled to child maintenance, women are not entitled to alimony. This was because women cannot seek judicial remedy as such a relationship is considered against public policy and public morality.