Minister says praise for stay-home mothers misinterpreted: 'economic growth needs more women at work'

Finance minister Tonio Fenech has reacted to a statement by the MCWO that expressed “disappointment” at comments he passed, intended to praise women who chose to care for children at home, rather than joining the labour force.

“The minister was actually stating the contrary: he was saying that more women must be encouraged to join the labour force, but he expressed appreciation for women who choose to stay at home in the first crucial years of a child’s upbringing,” a spokesperson for Fenech said.

“In no way did the minister say that a woman must stay at home, and his admiration for these mothers is in the context of those who choose to bring up their children. This was especially true in the Maltese context, where different times set for doctrine, drama and sports after school hours make it difficult for women to choose full-time employment – which is why mothers choose to stay at home.”

The MCWO today said it was disappointed with Fenech’s comments in a pre-budget consultation meeting earlier this week, about mothers who are in paid employment and women who choose to stay at home.

“We refer to comments like ‘I admire those many mothers who choose to stay at home’, implying that a mother who contributes financially to the family is to be admired less,” MCWO spokesperson Kate Bonello Sullivan said. “Or: ‘let’s be careful, if we don’t raise our children ourselves we’ll have a society that isn’t well fostered itself,” she said, quoting the minister.

“Mothers in paid employment contribute towards the economy by paying tax and national insurance contributions, but this does not mean that they neglect their children in any way, and if anything they should be admired more, not less, for managing to combine work and care,” the MCWO spokesperson said.

A ministry spokesperson said government had already taken fiscal measures in favour of childcare centres, and that economic growth was dependant upon more women joining the labour force.

Female participation rate in the labour market has persisted in remaining the lowest in the EU at 38% and far from the 2020 targets which aim to raise female employment rates to 75%.

Fenech’s spokesperson said government’s policy was “in favour of more solutions that help women choose the labour market.”

In their statement, the MCWO said that not all mothers could be compared to the minister’s wife, whom Fenech invoked as an example during his speech. “Not all mothers in Malta have the same choices as the minister’s wife who, he claimed, chose to stay at home in order to bring up her own children. Some mothers do not have this choice and work is the only option for them in order to earn a decent living.”

The MCWO was referring to the minister’s illustration of the difficulty in ferrying the children to extra-curricular activities and that games, football, ballet and doctrine lessons should be incorporated during school hours. “We couldn’t agree more – why does school have to finish so early? Why has government been reluctant to do anything about the school opening hours in spite of a clear incompatibility between a typical work day and school?”