While regarding it as a step in the right direction, Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina said yesterday that quality childcare services would not automatically lead to an increase in female employment.

Minister Cristina was speaking during the opening of a conference promoting the benefits of quality childcare services in Malta. The conference, organised by the Employment and Training Corporation, is part of a national awareness campaign co-financed by the European Union’s European Social Fund and the government.

There were other reasons that were holding women back from seeking employment or pursuing a career, said Mrs Cristina. “Mothers always have this dilemma between continuing their career and looking after their children. Childcare helps but it is not the only solution to increase female employment. The early years are the most important years in the development of a child,” she said.

Mrs Cristina said that Malta could not really be compared to other countries providing childcare service because this was still relatively new in Malta.

“As a working mother, I myself have in the past felt the lack of support structures and I now see this reflected in my own children who, like many young women nowadays, undoubtedly feel the dilemma of wishing to work for various reasons and at the same time acknowledging the importance of giving their children the best upbringing possible,” she said.

The government was taking measures to improve the sector, said Mrs Cristina, first with national standards in childcare, giving financial assistance. It was presently engaged in a process of identifying central schools that could also start to provide childcare services.

Project coordinator Sandra Azzopardi explained that the campaign aimed to raise awareness about the benefits of quality childcare to children, parents, employers and Maltese society.

Ms Azzopardi said that the campaign would increase parents’ knowledge and confidence in quality childcare and would also increase the demand for such services. A survey had revealed that nearly half of the respondents were not aware of what constituted adequate childcare facilities, she said, while 71 per cent were of the opinion that the public was not well informed about the benefits of childcare facilities.

The campaign is making use of television and radio spots, street billboards, bus shelter advertising, magazines and promotional material.

The ETC has also launched a website offering information on quality childcare. The website can be accessed at www.childcaremalta.org There is also a freephone helpline, 8007-4903, manned by the Department of Social Welfare Standards.