Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/960495
maltatoday SUNDAY 1 APRIL 2018 9 MARIA PACE MALTA'S tech industry has the least num- ber of women working in the tech industry, with only 800 female employees, according to a study by European company Honeypot. The study focusing on the tech industry in 41 countries revealed that from around 7,000 tech employees in Malta, only 800 were female. Honeypot, a tech-focused job platform for software developers, focused on 41 coun- tries in the OECD and EU which offered comparable data relating to both the tech in- dustry and the wage gap. The study centred around gender in the overall economy and the number of women in tech. The study al- so focused on the opportunities for women in tech and female career progression. The study found that Malta had the low- est amount of employees working in the tech industry, as well as the least number of women working within the industry. The EU's Gender Equality Index 2017 report published in January revealed that Malta still maintained its place as one of the three largest employment gaps in the EU-28 but has shown significant progress as a sub- stantial percentage of women entered the labour market from 2005 to 2015. While Malta's general wage gap stood at 11%, the wage gap in the tech industry stood at 18.60%, with a man's average wage be- ing €37.494 and a female wage standing at €30.520. The country with the highest percentage of employees working in the tech industry was the United States, with around six million workers. The US also had the most women working in the tech industry, with around 1.5 million female employees. Across the board, the proportion of fe- male tech workers remain under 30%, while the gender pay gap actually increased in 17 countries over five years. However, it also revealed that some countries such as Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom made positive steps towards equality both in the tech indus- try and in general. "The results reveal the countries which have the most to offer women looking to progress in the tech industry, with Portugal, the United States and Latvia highlighted as the top three nations that have taken positive steps to- wards gender parity in the technology field in terms of fairer wages," co-founder at Honeypot said. News MATTHEW AGIUS THE Lisa Maria Foundation has marked the fourth anniversary of the death of the young student Lisa Maria Zahra, as the pros- ecution of the former teacher accused of her assisted suicide, continues. The homicide case against the former drama teacher, Erin Tan- ti, has yet to reach jury stage as his defence lawyers fight an ap- peal against a decision to over- rule their objections to his Bill of indictment. Four years ago, Tanti was charged with the wilful homicide and with assisting the suicide of 15-year-old Lisa Marie Zahra, af- ter the two were found at the bot- tom of Dingli cliffs on 19 March 2014. He is also accused of defil- ing her when she was still under- age, at a time when he was also her teacher. The former teacher, 27, has been out on bail on a hefty €20,000 de- posit and a personal guarantee of €50,000, since 2015. He has since pursued a career in real estate and was recently involved in the catering and events industry. After a relatively quick compi- lation of evidence, the Attorney General's office had issued a Bill of indictment against Tanti in April 2014. The law allows a per- son accused to object to aspects of the Bill of indictment, which is precisely what Tanti did. The ob- jection was rejected by the courts, however, and this decision is now subject to an appeal by Tanti's de- fence team. In his appeal, Tanti protested that the charges were inaccurate and "excessively dramatic". On the night of the tragic death, Tanti and Zahra had driven up to Dingli cliffs, after running away from Zahra's family home where the two had spent the night, and over the course of the night planned to kill themselves. Tanti's defence has argued that toxicology results proved that Zahra had not consumed alcohol, contrary to what had been al- leged, and that the Attorney Gen- eral could not accuse him both of murder and with assisting a sui- cide, as the charges were alterna- tive to each other. Tanti also requested the can- cellation of the charge relating to the possession of indecent photographs of a minor, as the photos in question had been found in Zahra's mobile. He also demanded the removal of all of photographs of the victim from the indictment. In July 2017, presiding Judge Antonio Mizzi upheld a request by the defence to remove any ref- erence that Zahra had consumed alcohol from the indictment, after toxicological tests returned nega- tive for the substance, but turned down all of the other pleas and reiterated that the two counts of murder and assisting suicide were not alternative to one another. Zahra's father, the hotel entre- preneur Winston Zahra, declined to comment on the case. He preferred to highlight the work undertaken by the Lisa Ma- ria Foundation, which was set up after her death. "Over the past three years, the foundation has undertaken a number of initiatives to safeguard Malta's youth, including work with the Ministry of Education so as to strengthen legislation with regards to people who have a duty of care towards children." The Foundation has also been active in creating and supporting a number of events in the areas of education, culture and sport. Zahra said these events have all been designed to provide "healthy alternative and informative ac- tivities for youths" – one of these being the Foundation's collabo- ration with St Patrick's Athletics Club with the sponsorship of the Lisa Maria Memorial Dingli Ten, a 10-mile run which has been or- ganised for the past 28 years. "The fact that the run takes place on the anniversary of Lisa Maria's tragic death and that it is an activity which encourages youth to keep fit and healthy through sport made this event an ideal way to commemorate and celebrate Lisa Maria's life every year," the father said. magius@mediatoday.com.mt Four years since tragic death, accused still fighting appeal on bill of indictment Malta's tech industry falls behind with only 800 female employees MALTA Workforce Today Tech Industry Today Inequality & Opportunity % of Women Gender Pay % Women Tech Average Tech Average Gender Pay % Difference of Gender Comparison of in Overall Gap (%) in Tech Wage (€) Wage for Gap in Overall & Tech Pay Gap Gender Pay Gap Workforce Women (€) Tech (%) Gender Pay Gap 2010 2010 to 2015 39.1% 10.6% 11.2% €37,494 €30,520 18.6% -8% 7.2% 3.4% Lisa Maria Zahra (right) died in 2014 an alleged suicide pact gone wrong. Her father Anthony has since set up the Lisa Maria Foundation. The accused (bottom left) is out on bail and is appealing the charges drawn up in the bill of indictment for him to stand trial