Opposition leader Adrian Delia has derided the proposed parliamentary gender quotas, arguing that it contradicts with the rights given to people who identify as non-binary.

“There’s already an incongruence from government, which had originally removed or warped the definition of gender to widen it from male and female and now, all of a sudden, we’re taking about male and female,” he said in an interview with Lovin Malta.

“It seems the government has already changed direction there. When it was best suited to talk about LGBTIQ, it did, and now all of a sudden it’s male and female again”

This was a clear reference to a law passed in 2015, which granted trans, gender queer and intersex people rights to their self-determined identity, including the option of adding the gender-neutral ‘X’ to their official documents.

The gender quota system proposed by the government will be a temporary mechanism, which will see women MPs added to Parliament over and above the men who got elected as usual.

However, Delia said that while more women need to be encouraged to enter politics, a quota system risks sending across a message that they need political discrimination in order to succeed.

“We need to tackle the hurdles which are preventing more women from entering politics,” he said, citing the low salaries, long hours and the complete lack of childcare facilities in Parliament.

“It’s sad because women bring a completely different approach and a fresh perspective,” he said. “I come from the private sector, where the majority of my employees were female and even at decision tables, the perspective was completely different.”

“It’s not simply an issue of trying to say we want equal proportions and opportunities and of having the same sort of numbers but a question of bringing a fresh perspective and different outlooks”

“We’re different, which is good, and its important to have different perspectives on the table.”

What do you think of the proposed gender quota system?

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]