Every year on 8 March, the world pays a very special tribute to all women by dedicating an entire day – the International Womens Day.
The Commission in a statement said that the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities between women and men in almost all areas of life, both in Europe and beyond, rolling back on the hard-won achievements of past years.
It noted that “at the same time, gender equality has never been so high up on the EU’s political agenda, and the Commission has made significant efforts to implement the Gender Equality Strategy, adopted one year ago.”
Member States recorded a surge in domestic violence: There has been no significant rise in reported cases of domestic violence in Malta.
The report also noted that women were at the frontline tackling the pandemic: 76% of healthcare and social-care workers, 86% of personal care workers in health services are women. With the pandemic, women in these sectors saw an unprecedented rise in workload, health risk and challenges to work-life balance, the report found.
Women in the labor market were hit hard by the pandemic: Women are overrepresented in sectors that are worst affected by the crisis (retail, hospitality, care and domestic work), because these jobs cannot be done remotely.
Respect, responsibility and support to every woman is surely not limited to just one day. It should and must be every day. But certainly the International Womens Day is here to remind us of the beauty of each and every woman, irrespective of age, health, history, ideology, race or religion. Respect and love have no boundaries.
Well, on the islands of Gozo and Malta, Women’s day is widely celebrated in schools, at work and in each and every community. Entire families enjoy a nature outing and picnic either by the sea or surrounded by the verdant hills and terraced.
