Working group established to investigate gender equality

Samantha Sacramento, Gibraltar's Minister for Equality, took the opportunity on International Women's Day on 8 March to announce that she and her team are working on ways to encourage progress towards true gender equality at work. As part of these plans, a working group has been formed to look at whether there is a gender pay issue.

In her press release, Sacramento said that "in Gibraltar we are privileged in that women have equal access to education, healthcare and employment. For many women, balancing a career and family life is not easy, however well organised and well-intended. In general, women sometimes tend to fret on whether they have taken too much time off work after having children and whether this absence may have been for too long, thereby affecting their employment and promotion prospects. This can in turn lead to the question as to whether women can earn the same and progress in the same way as their male counterparts."

She added that "we simply cannot afford to sit and wait for things to happen. We need to make them happen and it needs to be a collective approach by both women, men, young and old. As women we must feel empowered and be bold to make that difference and effect change."