Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina yesterday launched the Employment and Training Corporation’s third Gender Equality Action Plan for 2007-2008 regarding employment.

The plan gives an in-depth analysis of what has happened in the labour market during the last six years from a gender perspective and proposes a series of activities and projects to address the situation. These include training initiatives, new projects funded by the European Union, support and information services, and an award scheme for employers who offer innovative working solutions for their employees.

Ms Cristina spoke about the need for much more work on an inter-ministerial level, such as that which took place in the preparation of this plan, which saw the support of many entities. She said that, while the figure of active women in employment was rather low in Malta, things needed to be seen in their context and therefore, when speaking of Malta, one should surely not compare such data with that of Scandinavian countries, which have a radically different culture.

She emphasised the need to continuously focus on making work pay, as in this way women will be encouraged to take on formal employment.

Ms Cristina referred to flexible working arrangements and said this should translate into investment for employers. Legislation in this field was important but it was crucial to hold a campaign focusing on employers to encourage them to view their employees as their investment and therefore, create the right conditions at work to enable them to retain such positions.

Thanks to research produced by the ETC, it was clear that family-friendly measures were what the majority of women wanted for them to retain a working relationship or begin a new one. The government has already worked hard on family-friendly measures and they needed to continue to add on and strengthen those which existed.

The government has in fact now identified three schools wherein childcare facilities will be developed and the aim was to ensure that these centres were financially accessible to a wide section of the population. Apart from this, the opening of a childcare centre in Birkirkara on the Smart Kids model within Centru Access was in the offing and other centres would be developed in Valletta and St Paul’s Bay.

The proposed initiatives in the action plan are aimed at different target groups. These include women looking for work, those already in employment, employers and HR managers, women who were facing redundancy, people finding it difficult to balance their family and work responsibilities, single parents, students from area secondary schools and immigrant women.

The Gender Equality Action Plan is the result of a consultation with various stakeholders such as employers’ organisations, workers’ organisations, voluntary organisations, government entities, policy makers, academics and the EU representation in Malta.

To receive a copy of the ETC Gender Equality Action Plan 2007-2008 or to obtain more information on gender equality at the place of work, one can contact Lucy Pace Gouder on tel.: 2220-1122 or by sending an email to: [email protected].