There has been a slight increase in the number of women who work, but Malta still lags behind in terms of female employment when compared to other European Union countries.

Just over one third of the Maltese adult female population is in employment, and although incentives offered by the government have led to more women being encouraged to work – full time or part time – we are still far from reaching the target laid down in the Lisbon Agenda.

Across the EU, the target is 60 per cent but, for Malta, the Lisbon Agenda sets it at 41 per cent of the adult female population, figures given by the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry show. Admittedly, this target is one that will be difficult to reach, but this should not stop the authorities from working even harder to bring more women into the working world, especially considering that there has been progress of late. In 2006, 34.9 per cent of Maltese women were in employment, up two per cent from the turn of the century.

It is easy to say that what keeps many women from working, and especially from taking up top positions, is child responsibilities and lack of support from their partner. This was in fact established in a study carried out by the National Statistics Office, the results of which were

published last month.

Women, especially those who have young children who are not independent, keep back from finding a job largely because they feel that their first responsibility is taking care of their family. If they have little support from their partner or from their extended family, and if they therefore are unable to have someone taking care of their children while they are at the office, then it is likely that they opt to stay at home.

The opening of childcare centres is a great helping hand for working mothers, as they provide a safe environment in which children are well taken care of. If the children are of schooling age, then their presence at school makes it easier for women to find employment.

Still, there are problems here as well because school hours in Malta are rather short and, the fact that schoolchildren are home at about 3pm makes it harder for women to find full-time employment.

Many, in fact, choose part-time work in the morning just to be able to be home in time when their children return from school.

The long school holidays in summer, the few weeks’ holidays in Christmas and Easter, and the few days’ holidays in November and for Carnival, not to mention the “extra” holidays non-government schools add here and there during the scholastic year, also act as a disincentive.

Many families solve the summer holidays’ problem by sending the children to summer schools. But it must be admitted that unless the number of school days are increased and the schooling hours are extended, this will remain a huge hurdle for the government in its endeavours to attract more women into the workforce.

Of course, there are other matters that need to be seen to in this regard. And the gender equality action plan launched recently by the Family and Social Solidarity Ministry deals with many of them. This should not be the case.

For example, flexible working hours are certainly a great incentive for women to work.

This would enable women to fix their working hours around their family schedule.

Another incentive is the possibility of working from home or sharing a job. All this should encourage more women to find jobs.

In this sense, more employers should venture into this new ground.

Although such possibilities exist, few employers seem to have taken the cue and most are still rather sceptical that they could actually work.