Women Taking Care Of Families Weren’t Given Stimulus Cheques, Maltese Lobby Warns Of Ignored Voters
A Maltese lobby representing women’s rights has hit out at the recent state-sponsored stimulus cheque scheme that saw people across Malta receive a cheque at home – apart from those not in employment, something unfairly affecting those that take care of their families and do not work in another job.
“The Malta Women’s Lobby is disappointed to note that women who are not in employment and do unpaid work in their family were not considered to be deserving recipients of the stimulus cheque distributed by government to the electorate in the last days,” the MWL said.
“This shows that women doing this valuable work in the family are taken for granted and are largely ignored, whilst the value of their work and their contribution to society is not appreciated.”
The group urged politicians to “stop ignoring half of the population”.
“Reconciling paid work and family still causes a lot of stress for parents, especially mothers.”
“Children get sick and parents are only allowed 15 hours of urgent family leave a year. Fathers get just one day of paternity leave, and parental leave is unpaid resulting in caring gaps between women and men that continue to discriminate against women,” they continued.
Cheques are arriving in people’s mail a few days ahead of the general election.
Every worker and student is entitled to a ‘stimulus cheque’ of €100, rising to €200 for pensioners and people on social benefits, a scheme intended to counter inflation.
Some people are also entitled to a tax refund cheque, with refunds oscillating between €60 and €140.
Opposition Leader Bernard Grech has warned that issuing cheques in the midst of an election campaign is tantamount to vote-buying and should be investigated as a corrupt practice.
Cover photo left: Malta Women’s Lobby
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