Public Policy

In every society, there must be laws and regulations to control and keep every person under order. Without such, a society would fall and mayhem would be created. Therefore, this is the reason why every society has a Government. A Government is an organization or entity which enacts laws, gives authority and administers public policies. Public policies are a means of laws and regulations on specific topics or public problems, which are enacted by different participants both locally, such as the Government, interest groups, and public media and internationally, such as the United Nations and the European Union. Therefore every policy is seen differently since every participant has its own views and opinions, for example the Government considers the increase in tourism to be important whilst Green Peace believes that new environmental regulations should be set up. Although every party or entity has its own views, all the policies are created for the common good of society and seek to achieve the desired goals.

Every person in a society has the right to live comfortably without any problems, but like any other thing public problems occur. Such problems are conditions which are not acceptable to the public and hence these need to be rearranged. Examples of public problems include high taxes, safety at work, environmental degradation and several other concerns though one of the most important concerns is the family. A family is a group of people living together usually consisting of two adults of both sexes and one or more children. A family forms part of society and therefore it is very important to take notice of the problems which occur in such a small group.

Today different problems have increased primarily the maternity leave of women. Since women have progressed and gained equality, many mothers go out to work. Today it is not an obligation for a woman to stay at home and carry out all the house duties, but when a child is born it needs his or her mother`s attention and therefore some leave from work has had to be created. It is in fact a right for both male and female individuals to take 3 months unpaid parental leave to take care of a child born, adopted or in legal custody. If this is not applicable to the employee, the employer together with the employee may agree to grant the parental leave on full-time or part-time basis or in the form of a time credit system. Though also, the Maltese Law entitles mothers to 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. In fact recently the EU aimed to increase maternity leave to 20 weeks and 2 weeks off for fathers. Therefore if such a resolution is accepted by the Council of Europe maternity leave in Malta would increase by 6 weeks and fathers would be given 2 weeks off. Such an issue is very important since employers are saying that this would be a financial burden to the company, but on the other hand women would be encouraged to go out for work and advance in their career as well as taking care of the children. It is impossible nowadays to live depending on one person`s income since the cost of living is on the rise, from the essential nappies to the wanted toys children demand. Therefore for a family to live a comfortable life such a policy is needed to increase women's careers and hence increase a family's income.

Having two persons providing income for their family can only be seen in the common family structure that is the nuclear family. A nuclear family consists of husband, wife and a minor child and can be found in the majority of every society. Though in today`s