Leave policies and legislation in Malta : how gender equal

Abstract

The study gives a direct insight into Malta's leave policies through unravelling reactions and experiences of a purposive sample of graduate women. Parental leave is unpaid and creates a gender divide as it is taken up largely by women. In parallel, it also creates a sector divide as most care policies exclude those outside of Malta's public sector. Men's needs as fathers, as a social issue for leave policies, never feature in political discourse, and have come nowhere close to hitting the political agenda. The reality is that care leave schemes in Malta are based on traditional assumptions associated with motherhood and women's responsibility to accommodate family obligations around their employment, while the gendered structure of society remains untouched. Women's voices suggest that Malta's long and unpaid parental leave is often synonymous with career regression and eventual financial dependence on men. Leave policies that offer no compensation for loss of earnings hinder the equal sharing of care responsibilities and perpetuate gender inequality both at home and in the labour market.