Men devouring Malta’s top positions and salaries

The typical CEO in Malta is over 50 years of age, and lives in the north and central part of the island, a report on the national census conducted in 2011 by the National Office of Statistics shows.

Census data shows that men account for 81% of Malta's 5,880 CEOs and senior officials, yet another confirmation that it women are far off from entering major companies' boardrooms: according to the census women account for just 15% of employers and 20% of self-employed.

The gender pay gap is the difference between men's and women's pay, based on the average difference in gross hourly earnings of all employees.

On average, women in the EU earn around 16% less per hour than men: it is below 10 % in Slovenia, Malta, Poland, Italy, Luxembourg and Romania, but wider than 20% in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Estonia.

The gender pay gap exists even though women do better at school and university than men.

The census breakdown shows that 43% of all CEOs and top management posts are over 50 years of age. Only 5% are under 30, and 24% are aged 30-40.

And it looks like only 15% inhabit Malta's south harbour or south-eastern regions, with just 4% hailing from Gozo which accounts for 7% of the Maltese population.

The census throws a light on the gender division of labour, with women accounting for only 27% of all management posts. Women are also outnumbered by males in the ranks of science and engineering professions and among ICT professionals.

But women have overtaken males in the teaching and health professions, where only 32% of teachers are males.

The legal profession is more balanced, with women accounting for 43% of lawyers.

And in the bottom ranks of the labour market, women account for 73% of cleaners and helpers but only for 9% refuse collectors and elementary workers.

The factory girl is also a dying breed: women now account for only 26% of machine operators.

The census data corroborates income tax statistics showing that only 367 women, compared to 1,650 men, declare an income higher than €50,000 in Malta. Nearly half of the €50,001-plus tax declarations are compiled by households who opt for a joint declaration of income, which suggests that these households have a single or main breadwinner that is traditionally associated with a male figure.

Males also predominate among those earning between  €40,001 and €50,000. In fact men constitute 77.4% of those within this income bracket who are either single or file separate computations despite being married.

The census also shows that while 61% males aged 15 and over are gainfully employed, 42% of females were taking care of the house or family. The percentage of gainfully occupied females stood at 36.2%.