Gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting in Malta

Abstract

Gender Equality between women and men remains elusive on many fronts and in 2019, Malta’s score in the EU Equality Index was below the EU average. Progress has been noted in the area of paid work, but little headway has been made in the power domain, which is still heavily dominated by men. On the other hand, women still disproportionally carry the biggest care burdens, with related consequences on their career and their earnings. Gender mainstreaming is still in its very early stages and there is no evidence that Gender Auditing or Gender Budgeting has been implemented so far. In the last six years no ESIF funds were secured for genderequality-related projects. However, other funds were sourced through other EU calls. A gender mainstreaming strategy is due to be launched in 2020, although little details exist of how this will be implemented. Malta has much to gain if it makes better use of ESIF and other EU funds in order to secure the expertise and the resources to effectively implement Gender Mainstreaming and to carry out Gender audits and Gender Budgeting. NGOs should be more involved in these processes and could be better supported, in order to make use of EU funds to strengthen gender equality in Malta.