On the occasion of the European Equal Pay Day, President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca received Ms Stephanie Falzon, President of Business and Professional Women (BPW) Malta, and was presented with the symbolic ‘red purse’ brooch, underlining the discrepancy in women’s income, thus putting a focus on the gender pay gap.
The President noted that even though over the past few years Malta had one of the lowest gender pay gaps within the EU Member States—which it still retains—in the last quarter of 2016 there was a difference of 6.1% between the salaries earned by men and women, according to latest data from Eurostat published in 2016.
Even though this difference is much less than the EU average, which stands at 16.1%, the President said that we need to address this discrepancy so as to prevent it from increasing.
President Coleiro Preca said that gender pay gaps also lead to the feminisation of poverty, if not addressed in time.
The risk that gender pay gaps lead to the feminisation of poverty is clearly stated in the European Commission’s 2017 ‘Report on Equality between Women and Men in the EU’.
President Coleiro Preca appealed to all stakeholders who have an important role in the employment field to ensure that, where the gender pay gap exists, it should be addressed.