Increasing the labour force participation and raising the rate of female employment is of paramount importance for the EU as a whole to meet its 2020 headline target – that of having 75% of the population aged between 20 and 64 employed by 2020. In its quarterly report of September 2012 the European Commission noted that the highest gap between male and female employment rates is found in Malta with around 32 percentage points.

Furthermore the same report shows that Malta has a female employment rate of under 60% with the report stating that ‘greater involvement of women in the workforce is particularly challenging’. Moreover, the female employment rate among people aged between 55 and 64 is below 30% in Malta. The European Commission states that this strikingly low rate may reflect the unavailability of care facilities for grandchildren or dependant parents coupled with difficulties to find a job after being unemployed for a long period of time.

This report entitled ‘Female Labour Market Participation’ clearly states that the impact of parenthood on female participation is high. This is translated into a situation where the employment rate for women with children is 20% lower than the employment rate of women who do not have children.

What does this mean in practical terms? It means that we still need the right incentives to facilitate things for women who want to contribute actively in the labour market. It means that with the right measures in place we might truly be offering an opportunity for women to be active participants in our society.

I believe that we need to aim to a state of affairs where parents – both mums and dads – are provided with the right incentives that will help them reach the right balance between family and work commitments.

In the ‘Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on Malta’s 2013 national reform programme and delivering a Council Opinion on Malta’s stability programme for 2012 and 2016’, it was clearly stated that there is still room for improvement when it comes to participation by women in the labour force. The report states that ‘employment rate of women still remains low, parenthood still has a significant effect on the participation of women in the labour market and the gender employment gap is the highest in the EU’.

The report suggests that promoting flexible working methods and increasing affordable childcare and afterschool facilities to a wider segment of the population can be part of a solution which can help increase the employment rate of women in Malta.

Given this background, I strongly believe that we need to provide more incentives to women to help them keep a career they have studied for or to uptake paid employment which will provide for their family’s wellbeing. Along the years a number of initiatives have been introduced, but it is clearly evident that these initiatives need to be enforced and increased, so that more women can be active participants in the labour market.

In this regard Budget 2014 has introduced innovative ideas which can further help women remain active in the labour market. One of the most interesting initiatives is free child care for parents. Such a measure can address one of the main obstacles that parents encounter when they start considering whether both of them should continue working or not. Such a measure will not only help women enter into paid employment and continue their careers but it will also help children receive a good educative formation. These childcare centres should provide children with the initial foundation to form their education. Further measures including improved tax credit schemes for childcare services are also welcome.

Another attractive proposal is that of providing the opportunity to parents who can take their children to school an hour earlier so that they can make it easily to work on time. Providing supervised attention to children coupled with a nutritional breakfast will provide peace of mind to parents that their children are being taken care of while they can manage their working schedules more effectively.

Another measure which addresses women over 40 years who have been unemployed for 5 years will also help women take up paid employment. Such measures are in line with what the European Commission has been suggesting.

Does this mean that these initiatives are enough? In my opinion these measures are a step in the right direction. These are measures that can attract women back to the labour market, and such initiatives can further help them continue in a career they have studied for. We need to further promote flexible working methods and other measures which will ultimately help women reach their full potential and most importantly we need to believe that these measures can start change.

Yes, we are in the right direction but we need to do more! We need to promote the idea of women having a well paid career which provides for themselves and their families, which gives us women an active role not only in the civil sphere but also in the political sphere.

Miriam Dalli is contesting the MEP elections on the PL ticket