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GUEST POST: Malta’s Voting Options Will Be A Bunch Of Boys Once Again. Here’s What We Can Do About It 

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It’s women’s day, we’re in the run-up to an election, and many ask me – won’t you feel ashamed that the women who will be representing you in parliament will be there as ‘cheats’? A undemocratic travesty? Incapable random girls placed there with an agenda? And a burden on the taxpayer? 

The thing is, as the environmentally unfriendly candidate flyers start pouring in, like old fashioned-analogue tinder profiles, with their digital counterparts the following suit, the only thing I’m certain about is the fact that the vast majority of them will be of men. And the only thing I feel like doing (I am told) is to sweep left. 

And yet there are so many capable, female leaders in Malta who have no publicly relevant gossip to unearth; no dodgy business they deal in; their income declared (at least some) and tax payments in orders.

Countless women have brilliant ideas to instigate much needed radical change, are empathetic and are passionate about our future, our children and that of the planet.

Our few women in parliament are subject to a higher level of scrutiny and often have a far larger load to cope with.

They buy and iron their own clothes, make their own coffee and are by far the more resilient. And if the boys think we believe that they have never taken a commission for a sale of anything and never asked our moguls for help to finance a poll or campaign then they are truly once again planning to win or at least try to win by sending their pied piper out to gather the sheep again. Oh well. 

Why aren’t more females, including myself opting to present themselves as candidates for the election? And why are the numbers so dire in Malta? 

There are many studies internationally explaining just this. And I believe that it is the fundamental issue in the quota debate (asides from the fact that people in Malta seem to think – in general – that men are more suited to politics – which is sad and depressing). 

In most cases, their male partners will not support them. In others, they do not align with either major party, and they do not believe the smaller ones around will lead anywhere.

Women know that a life in politics (should) means earning less and that it would expose their children and family to gossip and obnoxious scrutiny.

A life in politics would disrupt their quality of life. And the quality of life is priceless. 

Capable women who refuse to contest elections seem to realise this. I feel that a lot of the guys think that public life means quite the opposite. I’m sorry to sound judgemental. Prove me wrong, but I don’t feel the vast majority have their country at heart – they might have their party… but not the country. 

Perhaps, and statistically (based mostly on the way we have been nurtured), women have less hunger for power and less vanity – because clearly ‘fame and fortune seems to be the main force driving most of the persons that hold positions of power at the moment. 

That and feeding their personal agendas, which even if based on some brainwashed conservative idea of morality, is seldom aligned with the real needs of the residents of Malta. And the ‘people’ keep feeding them (and forgiving them for feasting on) exactly these sort of morsels of power, and they keep helping themselves.

As for the quota proposal, while it does little to nothing to tackle the ineffectiveness of parliament in fulfilling its democratic function’ it would still slowly lead to it being composed of an equal number of humans with vaginas and humans with penises. 

This balance will most definitely in initially a subtle and later in an extraordinary way deal with society’s matters and issues in a more balanced way, in the same way, it has worked in countries like Iceland and Finland etc. (one can dream, right?)

After all, bloating parliaments and nepotism are the order of the day in Malta. Nothing new there. And, I would still rather a gender-balanced, bloated, nepotistic parliament than one full of scrota. My two cents.

If, despite these truths, we still think quotas are a despicable undemocratic thing, there’s a couple of things we can do to bypass their need. 

Women, you know you’ve been thinking about it for a decade… or more. Present yourselves as candidates. Let’s rock this boat. Dear party leaders, please pack your lists with women. And voters, please vote for them. 

This is an incredible opportunity. 

Let’s get rid of the need for the quota allowance and the bloating of the parliament. Let’s vote them in, and this manoeuvre will not have to be implemented. We’d make international headlines – for the right reasons this time. ‘Country with least gender-balanced parliament in Europe in 2020 suddenly becomes the one with the most balanced one!’… ‘Maltese people realize women are as valuable as LGBTIQ persons’… ‘Hope for the world – the first Mediterranean nation has men who put their country before their ego.’ 

You know the women are good.. better than most of their counterparts… and have worked harder to get there. The women will not take their role for granted this time. They can’t afford the shame.

Let’s do something amazing. A balanced board is proven to be more effective and more profitable. Imagine what a gender-balanced parliament would do. 

Who’s in?

Lovin Malta is open to external contributions that are well written and thought-provoking. If you would like your commentary to be featured as a guest post, please write to [email protected], add Guest Post in the subject line and attach a profile photo for us to use near your byline. Contributions are subject to editing and do not necessarily represent Lovin Malta’s views.

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