A Brief History in Time

Written By Dr Nigel Camilleri, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist

Women's day is an important day of remembrance for me since, in the not too distant past, women like my mother were treated as inferior/subordinate to their men counterparts for the work they did.

In the 70s, my mother was one of the few women who got an honours degree in economics at university, whilst her male colleagues went to develop a lucrative career, she was employed as a clerk at the bank, and although she was the only person a degree, not even the governor of the central bank, she was given a lower-ranked job.

After getting married, she was told to stop working to bear and bring up children.

In the 90s, she went back to work, and whilst being told by many that what she was doing was a disgrace to her family, especially her husband, and that her place was at home.

Her worked involved fighting for equal rights at the place of work so that women would not be discriminated against by being paid less for doing the same job a man would do or by being given fewer benefits such as less sick leave or annual leave, and this work resulted in inequality for women at the place of work.

Today women still need to balance a career whilst juggling many other duties. Still, it is kudus to women's resilience that there are now more women than men at the University of Malta and many more women progressing in their careers than just a few decades ago.

I look forward to the day where we do not need to celebrate women's day because, at that point, there truly would be equal opportunities for all genders in our society.

Professor Frances Camilleri-Cassar is the first woman to attain Full Professorship in the Faculty of Laws.

Throughout her thirty years in academia, Professor Camilleri-Cassar has researched and published widely, and routinely presents papers to scholars and more general audiences, both in Malta and abroad. Her research interests centre around social policy and equality law and
connect with European and International colleagues working within a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. Her recent monograph titled 'Academic Research Methods for the Law Student: a practical guide' was published by the Faculty of Laws in 2018. Professor Camilleri-Cassar chairs the Research Ethics Committee and is a member on the Human Rights Law Platform.