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 26
January 2002 Annual General Meeting
 President's
Address
Dear Colleagues,
Once again I welcome you. During these few minutes, I wish
to share with you some of my reflections on our Council -
The National Council of Women - that has grown with me and
with whom I have grown much. Just before I was elected president
two years ago, there was a question that repeatedly came to
my mind and that I could barely answer at that time: What
is the raison d'etre of NCW? What is its role? What relevance
to society does it have or will have in a fast changing world?
Months later when I became president, the answer to this
disturbing question came almost naturally as I began to discover
the different needs of women in particular, of children, of
society at large - needs that were coming to the surface with
the changes in our society and also as a result of the influence
of outside forces today summed up in the word 'globalisation.'
Of course many of the issues that were dealt with in the past
years still need our attention.
And I asked myself: how is the Council going to respond to
these needs? And gradually I realised that the vision of our
Council - so well delineated in the objectives of the Statute
- must be translated into strategies and action that would
give effective results. During the year 200i, as we had stated
during the AGM, our priorities were domestic violence, the
rights of children, gender equality, IT literacy, female entrepreneurship,
training for job opportunities and the media portrayal of
women and in these areas we have worked hard as you shall
see from the reports, although there is still
To be more relevant to today's society, the Council realises
that we needed to build a stronger more developed communication
system with local organisations and with individuals in our
society. And this we are achieving through our increased participation
in local and international fora and through the increased
participation in the media.
But there is another important aspect of NCW that must not
be overlooked and this is the structure of the Council and
the communication system between the Standing, Sectional committees
and the Executive Committee itself. We need to go on building
a more flowing system - if we are able to network well within
the Council, then we can network well with others.
I wish here to acknowledge the valuable work that the sub
committees and the executive committee carry out, their commitment
and often sense of sacrifice and their ability to deal with
difficulties that from time to time crop up. I would also
like to thank them for the continuous support that they give;
this is extremely important when there is so much work to
be done. I also wish to thank the affiliated organisations
for their co-operation and support to our initiatives.
And now, as we look ahead, what shall our targets be for
the year 2002?
There are a number of pressing issues that require serious
consideration.
Health Care
One of the areas we need to focus on is Health Care. We need
to ensure that the health needs of the entire population are
tackled, specific care that responds to women's needs should
be taken into account. Breast Care, Reproductive Health, gynaecological
and obstetrical services must be kept accessible to every
woman, as well as all preventive and screening services that
meet the needs of women as patients and consumers.
Nor can we ignore children's needs; and here I must refer
to the negative effects of the abuse of modern technology
that is harming our children both physically and morally.
Changing and Diverse Family Patterns
The number of one-parent families is increasing. There is
the need to take policy action to adapt policies to better
correspond to these family patterns. A high percentage of
one parent families are headed by a woman. Specific attention
and action are needed to improve the employability and the
situation of single parents. There is the need for higher
education and quality training, high quality accessible and
affordable child care provision and support to programmes
to empower single parents.
Caregiving and Older Persons - Gender Dimensions
With the ageing of population, the issue of caregiving for
dependent older persons has become increasingly important.
Most older persons and most caregivers are women. Many policies
and programmes addressing the issue need to take into consideration
the gender specific needs and interests of women and men.
It also needs to be structured as a multigenerational enterprise
which recognises the assistance that children, youth, adults
and older persons can give each other in the creation and
maintenance of a caring society.
Gender Equality - Employment and Entrepreneurship
The challenge of actually making reality out of the many issues
demanding gender equality mainstreaming calls for serious
reflection and action. Only by ensuring that time frames and
targets are respected and political commitment at highest
level can gender equality mainstreaming become a reality.
The Council has already taken necessary step and submitted
amendments to the White Paper on the Employment Relations
Act ERA. There will be another challenge in the coming weeks
when the Gender Equality White Paper will be presented to
the public for consultation.
Young Women
We need to focus more on the needs of young women, to be able
to understand their needs. We must make sure that the illiteracy
rate among women does not rise, that the rate of IT literacy
among women of all ages is increasing. In today's world IT
literacy has become a necessity. We must also ensure that
women at the workplace at all levels have the opportunity
to move forward in their career through training opportunities
and through the support of family friendly services. And finally
we must work to see that the rate of women participation at
decision making levels is comparable to those of international
standards.
European Union Membership
The adoption of the Acquis requires candidate countries to
apply Gender Equality legislation and policies. Despite the
progress in candidate countries including Malta, so far reports
show that there is often a big gap between the written law
and it effective implementation. The gender equality principle
is not being applied in the enlargement process. There is
little support to candidate countries to counteract the tendency
of increasing inequalities between women and men, such as
the decline in women's representation in parliament, women's
situation in the labour market, child care facilities violence
against women etc. The EU must step up its efforts in promoting
and supporting with financial and human resources the candidate
countries in their work to ensure women's rights including
support to NGOs. Our direct communication with the European
Women's Lobby give us the opportunity to put pressure to ensure
that these issues are taken on board.
We cannot ignore at this point the importance of the Convention
for the Future of Europe that was the outcome of the Laeken
Declaration and that for the first time gave candidate countries
the right to participate in the discussions. Our request to
the Maltese Government to follow the Parity Democracy principle
by appointing one male and one female parliamentary representative
on the Convention has unfortunately not received an answer
yet.
We also need to be more informed on the more sensitive areas
to be negotiated during the course of 2002 - areas that include
taxation, environment, agriculture, food safety and not least
the need to target the micro and SMEs, the latter being an
area where women entrepreneurship can flourish if it is allotted
the necessary financial assistance. On the other hand women
need to be pro-active to be prepared for the new work organisation
systems such as working from home - and in this area it is
the Council's aim to offer training for women also.
International Involvement
Through the ICW and the ECICW the Council will go on making
its voice heard to support women who are being deprived of
their basic human rights as we have always done; our latest
involvement has been in support of Safiya Hussaini of whom
you have all heard. Our links have also extended to the European
Women's Lobby, the Malta Business Bureau in Brussels and the
Euromed NGO network
The Media
Our involvement in the Media has increased, especially the
print media, but it needs to be strengthened and in fact that
is one of the reasons why we are updating our website, so
that it is more user friendly and we can reach out to a wider
range of individuals
Extension of Premises
Our own premises and soon their extension are a unique asset
that will make many of our projections for the future a reality.
And you all dear members, you are equally important, your
support and participation are the lifeblood of our organisation,
that has continued to grow and develop - so that today it
is the pride of its founder members and all the members of
the 38 years of existence of the National Council of Women.
Grace Attard President NCW
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