Malta’s gender wage gap second lowest in EU but experts warn of problems

Recent statistics show that women in Malta earn 5.1% less than men, the second-lowest gender wage gap in the EU, behind Slovenia. 

However, university lecturer Anna Borg pointed out that the calculated gender pay gap only accounts for employed women and that around 50% of Maltese women do not have a job. She also argued that a clear gender pay gap still exists, despite more women graduating from university than men.  

“While the majority of women choose to combine paid work with family, the majority of men choose to focus solely on work, meaning that women end up with more familial responsibilities on their shoulders,” Borg told a conference on the gender pay gap. “Also, pay scales for jobs dominated by women, such as nurses, tend be lower than those dominated by men, such as computer programmers.”

The statistical gender gap has slightly decreased from 8% in 2007 and a converse gender gap appears to exist within part-time, with women earning 8.2% more per hour than men.

In Malta, the gender pay gap amongst 25 year-olds is 2.5%, but rises to 8% for 35-40 year olds. This, Borg explained, is the consequence of women taking on additional familial responsibilities.

However, the gender gap slips amongst 41-54 year olds and almost balances out amongst 55+ year olds.

“Those women who have stuck around in the workplace for that long are typically those who have family-friendly jobs that they could afford to keep working in,” statistician Joslyn Mamo explained.

Senior lecturer JosAnn Cutajar warned that several elderly women in Malta are fully dependent on their spouses’ pensions to get by. Only 61% of Maltese women even have a pension and the average difference between men’s and women’s pensions is 21%, one of the highest in the EU.

She pointed out that women typically earn less than men, meaning they will be less likely to afford a third pillar private pension. She also argued that some cultures of migrant women are less likely to work and that those that do work tend to do so informally, therefore not contributing to their future pensions.

In a brief opening speech, Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli admitted that there is a lack of local awareness on the gender pay gap between men and women.

“Whenever I speak about the gender pay gap, people wonder what the problem is as there are laws that require equal pay,” Dalli said. “However, when a man and a woman start off their careers at the same stage and with the same qualifications, the men tend to end up earning a higher wage, largely due to the woman taking on additional responsibilities.”

“The more we move towards a symmetrical society, the more we can address this pay gap.”

 “When an employer is faced with a choice of employing a man or a woman, both of equal qualification, he will often choose the man simply because he wouldn’t want to pay the woman’s possible maternity leave in the future,” she said. “It cannot be proved but we all know that it happens.”

This, she said, was the reason why the government will soon set up a maternity fund from which the maternity leave of employees in the private sector will be paid.

PN Executive President Ann Fenech called on parents to raise their children in a way that reduces discrimination, and on companies to set up in-work childcare facilities to encourage more women to return to the workplace earlier after giving birth.