As part of avtivities marking Womens’ Day on the 8th of March, Alternattiva Demokratika met with the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality. Dr Janet Mifsud, the Commissioner, presented the Annual report for 2008 highlighting the achievements of the Commision and its policy direction. Present for the meeting was also the Executive Director, Ms Sina Bugeja.

AD Chairperson and MEP candidate Prof. Arnold Cassola said, “gender equality enables women and men to benefit from equal opportunities in all sectors, including employment, family life, healthcare, leisure, education and other areas of social life. People are struggling in order to create balance between employment and the family. As compared to other EU member states Malta lacks certain family friendly measures such as affordable child care centres and the amount of parental leave.”

AD Spokesperson for Health and Social Protection Mary Anne Zammit said, “getting more women in employment promotes personal autonomy for women. Some women remain in abusive relationships because they are not economically independent. Having more women in emplyment can help create more equality in society, with family responsibilities shared more equally between both partners.”

“There are certain groups of women in our society who cannot afford to pay childcare facilities or other services. Such cases include single working mothers, or women going through separation, but also various low to middle income families. Other groups of women who deserve special protection are those with poor levels of education, unemployable and who are constrained to earn their income through illegal activities with high risks for their lives and their children.”

AD spokesperson for civil rights and MEP candidate Yvonne Ebejer Arqueros mentioned the problems being created by the fact that the law does not recognise new relationships of people who were previously married and who because of the discriminatory nature of Maltese legislation cannot obtain divorce and enable them to regularise their new relationships in the eyes of the state. Yvonne Ebejer Arqueros concluded, “The fact that Malta has no divorce for people resident in Malta and that cohabitation is unregulated makes matters much worse for couples involving at least one separated person, in terms of legal rights and obligations.”

“The situation is even more discriminatory and unfair since Maltese courts recognise divorces obtained from foreign courts. AD believes that citizens should be treated as adults who are able to take personal decisions which affect their lifes – it is indeed unfair that certain people are forced to build relationships which are not recognised and protected by the state with the resulting risks for the most vulnerable partner in such relationships because of ultra-conservative attitudes of the Maltese government and the procrastination of other parties on this issue.”

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