A Maltese mother and entrepreuner has opened about about why she wanted to open a series of childcare centres in Malta, and how the government helped her do so.

Speaking during a Labour Party political rally, Charmaine Caruana, the Director of San Luigi Child Care Centre, said she wanted to address a recent article she had seen online.

“I saw an article that said that women today are forced to go out to work because of the rising cost of living, and as a woman I was hurt as I don’t feel that a woman needs to work just because of the rising cost of living. I think this should be a right so a woman can be independent and enjoy her own dignity.”

“Just because I am a woman doesn’t mean I should stay home from the morning to evening in the kitchen cooking, washing, cleaning…. not that this is bad as in – even though I’m a Child Care Director, I still do all of this and make sure there’s food on the table when the family comes home.”

Caruana opened up about why she wanted to open up Child Care centres – even opening up a fourth one in the middle of the pandemic, regardless of the challenges.

“I was five months pregnant when I lost my son, I was going to name him Luigi, and when I lost him, I just wasn’t doing well mentally… I loved him, and I said, ‘I need to do something, something big so his name will always be remembered’ – and I decided to open my first childcare centre.”

“After one, I ended up running two, and from two, to three – and now I have four,” she said as the crowd applauded.