Family-‘unfriendly’ politics put women off the job

At the end of 2015, the Maltese population stood at 434,480: 203,247 females and 200,233 males. Girls are faring better than boys in education and there are more female graduates than males. But in politics, women’s representation remains abysmal: out of the 71 members of parliament, only nine are women. Before Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca went on to become President of the Republic, that number was 10 out of 69 MPs in 2013.

The discussion on how to increase the number of women in parliament has been reignited as elections draw close, but the debate today is whether Malta should go for gender quotas at parliament level.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat says the introduction of a gender quota system to boost the number of female MPs could be a temporary one, until they would no longer be needed. Quotas are not new across the EU, where at least eight member states have legislated quotas that are binding for all political parties. 

Ireland, when last year’s election was the first where legal gender quotas for candidate selection applied, saw a 40% increase in female MPs elected. The Irish legislation incentivised parties to select at least 30% female candidates, by tying it to the state funding received to run their operations.

A paper by the European Parliament internal policy DG says the proportion of women elected increased in particular in countries that have adopted legislated quotas. But it highlights that quotas on their own do little to keep the momentum going: “In general, the political parties are the gatekeepers to gender balance in political decision-making because they control ‘the secret garden of nominations’.”

The Maltese scene

In Malta, political parties have tried to give female representation a push forward: the 2014 EP elections led to the election of four female MEPs, more than half of the Maltese delegation to the European Parliament. Whilst both Labour and the Nationalist parties have tried to solidify female representation in their top structures, their weak point remains the recruitment of women candidates.

The Equality Commission says political parties should target at least a 30% representation of each sex in party electoral lists for the coming elections; at least 40% representation of each sex in party electoral lists for the following elections; and at least 50% representation of each sex in party electoral lists in all subsequent elections.

The 2013 election reaffirms that, once nominated, female candidates have the same chances of being elected as male candidates. The difference in numbers is down to the fact that there are more male candidates. On the other hand, playing to the male’s advantage, is their power of incumbency and a stronger chance of being re-elected. 

In the last election, the total number of candidates fielded by the Labour Party, the Nationalist Party and Alternattiva Demokratika amounted to 269. But only 40 were women (15%). Of the successful candidates who made it to parliament, 14% were women.

Collectively, the highest number of female candidates during the 2013 elections was in District 12 (24%) whilst none of the parties managed to field a single female candidate in District 7. 

With the election of PN MPs Kristy Debono and Marthese Portelli, District 9 was the only district in Malta to elect two female candidates. In Gozo, the parties’ only female candidates – Justyne Caruana (PL) and Giovanna Debono (then PN) – were both elected to parliament. The two ran against 10 other candidates.

But irrespective of quotas, the nation’s solution to increased female participation – and quality candidates in general – may lie in the working environment itself.

Gender quotas or an overhaul of working environment?

Dr JosAnn Cutajar, senior lecturer on gender studies at the University of Malta’s Faculty for Social Wellbeing, argues that Malta should introduce legislated quotas at parliamentary level. 

“Unfortunately, because of the way the system is structured – where male incumbents are more likely to make it into parliament – we need to tweak the system to ensure that new faces, and hopefully new ideas shape new policies,” Cutajar said.

She favours a proposal made by former Labour prime minister Alfred Sant, which would see the electorate presented with two lists of candidates, with the electorate choosing an equal number of candidates from each.

But Cutajar points out that another issue that may work against female candidates is that it’s the successful male candidates who get the ‘stronger ministries’. “What’s the use of being elected if then you’re not in a position to be one of the shakers and shapers of policies? Women should not be assigned only to ministries dealing with social issues, but also to areas relating to economy, foreign affairs and so on.”

On the other hand, the junior minister for planning Deborah Schembri says quotas are “demeaning”, although she admitted they can help and are therefore tolerable if used for a short period of time. “More important, however, is that the whole working environment has to change otherwise, once quotas are no longer in place, the situation would go back to square one.”

She argued that the biggest obstacle for women in the political arena was the working environment: “The ill-devised working hours when parliament is in session; the fact that campaigning is very time consuming and that politicians have the tendency to be targets of unwarranted criticism which puts people, especially women, off.”

PN MP Kristy Debono expressed the same sentiment, arguing that rather than imposing quotas, it would be more effective to adjust the parliamentary and party duties to become more family-friendly.

“It would be quite frivolous if we impose quotas to help women get elected, only to face the current obstacles politicians encounter in our daily life as MPs. I would rather, impose a more family-friendly environment including better hours for parliament and meetings and a better support system as these would by default attract more women to enter politics. A better structure would attract more quality candidates, irrespective of their gender.”

Besides the hours during which parliament convenes, Debono also reiterated that MPs do not have a reasonable support system. Calling for the availability of at least a single assistant assigned to each MP, she said: “The reality is that we are a one-man band expecting to perform an orchestra as the work of a politician requires research, analysis, preparation for parliamentary speeches… besides the incredible workload related to constituency.”

Cutajar, who has carried out extensive research in the participation of women in politics, insisted that the main obstacle for all working parents is the long working hours.

“Working parents who must then go to parliamentary sessions in the evening will find it quite tough to juggle work, parliament and family responsibilities. Some of the women I interviewed in the past underlined that they would not be able to make it to parliament if they did not have an effective social network, which includes that of their male partner. Those who do not have this social network, suffer.”