PN’s U-turn on gender quotas: pledges 40% quota for women on boards

After the Nationalist government opposed mandatory quotas for female participation at executive level on all government boards and public listed companies, the PN is now pledging to have, by 2020, 40% of all publicly-listed companies' board of directors composed of women.

In its electoral programme published yesterday evening, the PN pledged a future government would commit itself to "having at least a 40% female representation on the board of directors of public companies and entities by 2020 and encourage the private sector to follow suit".

The surprise U-turn - nonetheless much welcomed by women's organisations - follows a year in which the Nationalist government declared it would join a diplomatic push spearheaded by the United Kingdom to oppose a law that would introduce mandatory quotas for women on companies listed on the stock exchange.

Justice Minister Chris Said himself had argued that it would be "counterproductive for the EU to work towards developing legislative measures in terms of legally-binding quotas, given the very different situations and starting points in member states making it very difficult to foresee how a 'one-size-fits-all' solution can be implemented effectively across the EU."

Said had insisted the EU should stay out of such legislation and instead allow national governments to pursue their own equality measures.

Government's opposition to quotas had startled the Malta Confederation of Women's Organisation (MCWO) and the National Council of Women.

"The Government's decision to oppose the boardroom gender quotas comes as shocking news to the National Council of Women," executive member Roselyn Borg had said. "We urge the government to rethink its position and support the quota system. Gender balance is long overdue and opposing it is surely unacceptable."

On the other hand, both the Labour Party and Alternattiva Demokratika had declared their position in favour of the policy, with PL describing it as "a necessary evil" and AD "a necessity to overcome barriers".

The Maltese government says it has already taken the initiative to ensure that women are well represented on boards and committees in the public sector, and it has introduced tax breaks for mothers returning to the labour market.

A cursory glance at the public sector's main corporations and government-owned companies also indicates that the presence of women on boards is probably already at 40% on average.

But within the Maltese private sector, 'board-ready' women are not adequately represented.

The European Commission says that according to the EU Labour Force Survey, Malta has over 1,000 women (25%) in the private sector who are directors and CEOs or managers of small enterprises, compared to over 4,000 men who have the same roles in private business.

And yet, nearly 60% of university graduates are women, a heartening figure dampened by the fact that Malta has the lowest rate of female participation in the labour market of all the EU member states: 34% of the national workforce.