Women in the labour market : a Maltese perspective

Abstract

History illustrates that throughout the ages, women were economically active at all times and in diverse ways albeit intermittently. While women's participatory role and the level of involvement in the formal labour market are explored through official statistical data, the study reveals the misleading tale of a rise in female full-time employment. Indeed, women's economic activity patterns remain intermittent and substantial growth in job market participation, particularly among married women, are observed in the realm of part-time working. The study approaches the question of part-time working from a variety of perspectives. It goes beyond numerical data and presents a theoretical overview of women's employment in the labour market focusing, where appropriate, on the part-time workforce. The research

also contains a detailed analysis of data gathered from one-on-one in- depth interviews with a selected number of women working in the

finance services industry of Banking and Insurance in Malta.