Malta among worst performing countries in EU in gender equality indicators

Malta was among the worst performing countries in the EU on gender equality in 2019, according to a European Commission report.

According to the 2019 Equality Between Women and Men report, Malta was among the worst five countries in the EU in five indicators – employment rate gap, gender pension gap, women on company boards, women in parliament and women as senior government ministers.

Malta was among the best five countries in the EU in terms of female representation among the country’s MEPs, where 50% of Malta’s representatives are women.

The report shows that despite progress in gender equality across the bloc, women continue to face “inequalities in many areas”.

Women remain at a greater risk of poverty, with salaries on average 16% lower than they are for men, translating into a pension gap.

The report also notes that women remain largely under-represented in Parliaments and governments, with only six of 28 national parliaments led by a woman.

The survey found that only 6.3% of CEO positions in major publicly listed companies were held by women. 

Steady increase in female employment

According to statistics published by the National Statistics Office in Malta on the occasion of woman’s day, the female employment rate has steadily increased from 45.3% in 2012, to 57.6% in 2017.

Similarly, the female activity rate in the labour market increased from 48.8% 2012 to 60.2% in 2017, with the activity gender gap going down to 23.2%. This is however more than double the EU average.

The estimated 220,489 employed population in 2017 was made up of 88,049 females and 132,440 males.

Females were mostly employed as service and sales workers (28.8%), with 7.4% being employed in managerial positions, compared with 12.2% of men.

Despite the fact that men significantly outnumber women in the work force, the number of female professionals is only marginally lower than for males. In fact, 18,648 women were listed being employed as professionals, compared with 19,856 men.

Although the percentage of women holding a seat in Parliament has increased in recent years, representation in parliament is still well below the European average, with Hungary being the only country with worse female representation than Malta.

Women are also underrepresented in local government, with only 21.9% of councillors being female. 13 out of the country’s 69 mayors were women in 2017.