The status of women under Maltese labour law : equal opportunities and conditions of work

Abstract

The principle of equality between the sexes is a matter of human rights and this principle is a fundamental requisite for democracy and social justice. So much so that the United Nations Declaration of Philadelphia affirms that all human beings, irrespective of sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity whilst the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the 10th December 1948 affirms the principle of the inadmissibility of discrimination and proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, including distinction based on sex. The European Social Charter of the18th November 1961 guarantees the enjoyment of various economic and social rights, inter alia the right to work, to just conditions of work, and to a fair remuneration without discrimination; whilst a 1988 Additional Protocol to the Charter guarantees the right to equal opportunities and treatment in occupational and employment matters without discrimination on the grounds of sex. The United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the 16th December 1966 imposes upon State Parties the obligation to ensure the equal right of men and women to enjoy all the economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights enunciated therein, as well as equal opportunity for everyone to be promoted in his employment to an appropriate higher level, subject to no considerations other than those of seniority and competence.