'Women are their own worst enemies' - Claudette Buttigieg

Women are their own worst enemies, Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg said this morning while addressing a seminar organised by the National Council of Women.

Buttigieg said that even though women are known for multi-tasking, they should not do the work for men but share life responsibilities.

Buttigieg, who was asked to speak about the role of the media in shaping women's development, added that social media is emerging as an important tool in empowering women, making them realise their potential.

Mary Gaerty, president of the Women's Council, concurred with Buttigieg and said that a culture change is needed for the true empowerment of women.

"Our culture sees women as primarily responsible for childcare, but they have other capabilities that are not being appreciated. The potential is there - we are having more female graduates annually. We just need a push to increase female participation in the labour market and in politics," Gaerty told MaltaToday.

She described the low rate of only 15% of MPs in Parliament being female as 'unacceptable', proposing that political parties should seriously consider quotas, at least on a temporary basis.

"More women in Parliament and on government boards will eventually present more role models that will encourage women to come forward. Countries like Sweden and Finland introduced temporary quotas in the past and now they do not need any since female participation now exceeds the 50%."

Godfrey Baldacchino, professor of Sociology at the University of Malta, said that on the positive side, a 2% increase was being registered per year in female participation in the labour market.

"This may be due to the increase in non-family childcare, where families are now ready to trust outsiders with childcare and enter the labour market," Baldacchino underlined.

On a more negative note, he said that girls leaving school at 16 have much fewer options of employment than boys of the same age and skills, confirming that gender inequality begins from an early age.

He said that one of the solutions may be to make occupations which were traditionally male-dominated more accessible to women, as occurred with bus drivers with the public transport reform.

Josann Cutajar from the University of Malta said that statistics confirmed the grim reality of female participation in the labour market, where in 2012 it only amounted to 46.8%.

"This means that for economic survival, women may depend on three options: employment, marriage or dependence on social benefits. Poverty may not be evident and apparent, but it exists and women are among the most vulnerable and at risk of poverty," Cutajar said.

She added that recent statistics backed the notion that women were fortunate if they earned average incomes.