The National Council of Women (NCW) called for more research in the perception, attitudes and behaviour of men on gender equality “to address the needs of women and men in the formulation of gender equality policies in its recommendations.”

The NCW approved the recommendations at its annual general meeting held recently.

It suggested organising pre-marriage courses for couples to include men’s perspective on gender equality in all settings and said that stereotyping and violence in the media needed to be addressed while parents should be trained to create awareness of gender equality as a main role model.

The NCW also urged the government to provide free vaccination for cervical cancer to all young girls aged between 12 and 16 as was done in other countries.

It also recommended that the government sustain educational and preventive measures against the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

The council called for more human and financial resources to help NGOs prevent domestic violence.

Professionals in the legal, educational, medical, police and mental health field should be provided with ongoing training to help identify domestic violence at an early stage and provide adequate help to those who needed it.

Furthermore, it said, there should be data gathering systems to analyse and collect information on domestic violence.

In its recommendations, the NCW said the national curricula should include entrepreneurship education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, especially among women.

These measures should be included “to increase the number of women graduates in ICT, scientific and technical disciplines,” it added.

Furthermore, women starting their own business should have easier access to ICT to facilitate marketing.

Women’s work should be given more recognition at the workplace and more flexible work arrangements and teleworking in the private and public sectors should be encouraged.

The recommendations also suggested making use of EU funding to give priority to “initiatives by women that invest in research and innovation leading to the fostering of entrepreneurial mindsets and activities that encourage female participation.”

It called for a closer collaboration between the family, education system, state and Church to provide an environment where children could grow.

It also said that child protection measures that had a negative impact on children should be reviewed, ensuring that all members of the family involved were given an opportunity to speak and were included in the decisions.

The recommendations said that young people were finding it difficult to integrate in the world of work.

“The skills learnt at school are not always in line with the requirements of a knowledge society and the level of failure is still a source of concern,” it said.

The NCW said the education system needed to raise the level of “initial training and to offer more flexible pathways for young people.”

New and more flexible working time is also needed for young people to spend time with their children.

The council called for retirement schemes for the elderly “to promote more flexible bridges between work and retirement to retain older workers in the labour market.”

Furthermore, it said, optional measures such as flexible gradual retirement and a combination of wages and pensions should be considered as opposed to the statutory retirement age.