Malta’s gender imbalance in politics: parties fail to recruit women candidates

Political parties have been urged to step up their recruitment of women candidates for the 2018 general elections.

With just nine female members of parliament out of 71 MPs, women representation in parliament is dismal, with Malta ranking the lowest among the EU 27 member states in 2013.

On the other hand, in 2013, 21 % of those elected as local councillors were women and, in 2014, half of the MEPs elected were women taking three seats out of the six allocated to Malta.

With elections scheduled for March 2018, the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) has once again highlighted the imbalance in the participation of women and men in the political sphere.

The NCPE urged political parties to present gender-balanced lists of candidates in the coming general and local council elections.

The commission argued that results of recent elections showed that the problem of female under-representation in politics does not lie in voting behaviour, since the percentage of elected women has been more or less the same as that of women candidates. However, the number of women candidates has been very low.

“Thus, under-representation is primarily related to the low recruitment of women candidates by political parties,” the NCPE said.

“A pro-active effort by political parties to break gender stereotypes and promote a balanced female participation in the party structures at all levels, as well as more family-friendly arrangements and support structures within parties, is essential for an increase in the level of participation of the under-represented sex. It is also important to have a cross-party consensus to address barriers to women’s participation in politics.”

The NCPE said it had noted that political parties have already taken a number of measures aimed at promoting female participation in politics, but proposed that political parties should endeavor more by provided more family-friendly structures within parties.

The NCPE said gender concern in all operations of the party, including their work, policies and structures, should be integrated whilst urging them to avoid gender stereotypes.

“Political parties must ensure that the necessary resources, including financial ones, are available to women for effective campaigning and other work and that women are given speaking slots in public events and media appearances.”

The equality commission reiterated that the participation of both women and men in the political sphere is needed to strengthen democracy, to improve the quality of decision-making and to achieve a more equal society.

“Fielding more women candidates will give the electorate a wider choice of candidates and it should lead to a more gender-balanced representation in Parliament and in local councils.”