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Not Really an Island
By
Ferial Haffajee
NO COUNTRY in a globalised world is
an island, not even her own idyllic nation of Malta, says
Doris Bingley, the general-secretary of the National Council
of Women.
“Malta, like all other countries cannot any longer
close its borders to foreign influence, and therefore the
consequences that the globalisation process can have on women
needs careful consideration,” she adds.
In Malta, the information technology and tourism industries
have grown exponentially, and the task of the country’s
women’s movement was to ensure that women were not marginalised
from the economic moment. Bingley believes that “More
opportunities are needed so that women can adapt to IT literacy.
There is the need for closer partnership to speed up the implementation
of IT programmes for women.”
Like other emerging economies, Malta is capitalising on its
IT skills and networks to win data processing work from the
wealthy centres of the North like Europe and the United States.
Women workers are the foot-soldiers in these new industries
and this required new policy and thought to consider the implications.
“The economic and social implications on women, family
cohesion and fertility rates require careful research and
analysis in dealing with the issue of women and work to identify
both the strengths and the weaknesses of the current state
of affairs,” she says.
Another essential step, believes Bingley, is to bring more
women into decision-making roles in the private and public
sectors to ensure “a more balanced approach….a
culture of peace can develop strategies to encounter the process
of globalisation…”.
A gender lens and women’s empowerment can ensure that
globalisation does not storm Malta, but wash over the island
like a gentle rain. The Commonwealth brings together some
of the world’s largest countries, like Nigeria, and
some of its smallest, like Malta.
What Bingley’s concerns show is that gender concerns
have a universality, regardless of size.
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