Week unclouded. Miscarriage leave, a trailblazing researcher, domestic violence reports up
News can be overwhelming to follow. Important news bites can get lost amongst all the hard and breaking news. Here are a couple of the headlines from this week and beyond that impact women.
Miscarriage leave - about time!
Carolina Ghyhn on Unsplash
This week we heard how the government is discussing ways to introduce paid leave for employees who suffer a miscarriage. Currently, Maltese law does not provide for any special leave in case of miscarriages. An employee who suffers a miscarriage can apply for sick leave.
Meanwhile - to gain some context - recently The Guardian reported that, in Britain, mothers and their partners will be given the right to two weeks of bereavement leave if they suffered a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks’ gestation. Parents there already have a right to bereavement leave in cases where they have lost a child or suffered a stillbirth after 24 weeks of gestation.
Malta has a long way to go to catch up. We seem to be on the right track - a track that recognises how devastating a miscarriage is.
As outlined in a previous article, “it was not only the loss of a child I was mourning… it was the loss of a life I had imagined unwind in my mind. Apart from the sharp pain, I fell into a dark spiral for a couple of days as the hormones inside me resettled. That was when I realised the power of hormones on us women. As they settled, I returned to normal. The darkness lifted. But the sadness lingered.”
Scientist Liisa Galea recognised for women’s health research
Scientist Liisa Galea, of Maltese descent, has been named one of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence+ for 2025.
Liisa is a senior scientist who currently leads the Women’s Health Research Cluster at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. The prestigious award recognised her groundbreaking research on sex differences in brain function and her unwavering commitment to advancing women’s mental health.
In an interview with Woman Unclouded, Liisa spoke about her personal journey and the importance of women’s health research.
According to the World Economic Forum, spending more money on women’s health research can save the global economy $1 trillion a year. Women are at great risk of developing depression during perimenopause with the most at-risk time being immediately after giving birth for first time occurrence of mental illness.
“Many women will leave the workforce because of a number of symptoms and because they don’t get enough medical advice during menopause. Doctors are not properly trained as in many countries they get less than half of a day on what menopause is. This is unfortunate as half of the population will go through it,” she said when speaking about menopause.
Domestic violence reports up
Nadine E Drzymtae on Unsplash
Crimes related to domestic violence increased by 7% in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to an annual crime review written by Crimemalta Observatory.
Data for 2024 revealed there were 2,225 registered domestic violence cases, which make up 13.4% of all crimes committed in Malta that year. The increase may be related to the increased number of reports of the crime. Around three-fourths of cases were related to psychological harm.
Last year, figures tabled in parliament showed that reports increased from 1,645 in 2022 to 2,071 in 2023. Malta has the highest rate of reporting domestic and gender-based violence in the EU according to a 2024 Eurostat report.
Also this week, Alessia Cilia Portelli - the sister of femicide victim Bernice Cassar - vowed to continue fighting for justice in her sister’s name. Speaking during a conference organised by the FIDEM Foundation, she spoke about the need to listen to victims of domestic violence.
“You need to listen to the pain, even if it is not spoken,” she said adding that shame and fear could stop victims from speaking about their pain.
Share your news
Do you have some women-related news you want to share? Or perhaps an idea or topic you feel deserves to be spoken about and ‘unclouded’? Or an inspiring story to share?
If so you can comment below or send an email on hello@womanunclouded.com so we can discuss how to get your voice heard.