WATCH: Miriam Dalli And Roberta Metsola Didn’t Need Gender Quotas To Get Elected, Peppi Azzopardi Says In Fiery Video
Malta’s new gender quota bill is an “insult” to women, host Peppi Azzopardi has said in a new fiery video that’s since gone viral.
Taking aim at a bill that would let “women enter through the air-vents, and not the door,” he listed a number of leading Maltese politicians who made it to the top of the political game without the need for gender quotas.
“Now tell me: did Minister Miriam Dalli, who, when in the EU Parliament, was voted one of the most influential men or women in Europe, do you think she needed some kind of push to be elected?” Azzopardi asked.
Similarly, he spoke about Roberta Metsola and Claudette Pace, the Vice President of the European Commission and the Deputy Speaker in Maltese Parliament respectively, who also were able to be elected on their own merit.
Metsola and Dalli both received the most votes from their respective parties in the 2019 MEP elections; third party candidate Cami Appelgren did the same, though she didn’t get elected.
The video, posted by Xarabank, racked up over 1,000 reactions in around 24 hours.
“They were elected not because they are women, but because they are people.”
In a metaphor, he noted that there are more female students at the University of Malta, and asked if a new system should be implemented there to create a gender balance for men.
“Now how would you feel about that?” he asked. “Wouldn’t it be insulting to you as a male youth if you are told that?”
He reiterated his belief that there aren’t more female politicians in Malta isn’t that they aren’t elected, but that they don’t even enter politics in the first place.
This is due to the fact that Malta’s Parliament “isn’t fit for men or women” due to a variety of issues, including MP salary, workload and the fact that they aren’t provided with dedicated assistants.
Azzopardi ended by warning that gender quotas would do nothing but harm female candidates in upcoming elections as male politicians can now say they are at an unfair advantage due to the gender quotas working against them.
Do you agree with Peppi’s thoughts?
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