Political parties should place quotas on men if they want to ensure that only the best candidates from both sexes are chosen, according to a gender studies senior lecturer.
“We need to have a ceiling on men. If we push for quotas on women, those women would have to constantly legitimise their position. We need to curtail men’s over-representation in politics because we’re bringing in mediocre men,” JosAnn Cutajar said, quoting French gender politics expert Rainbow Murray.
I know women who take off their wedding rings to ensure they are not treated as potential mums
She was speaking during a business breakfast titled ‘Equality is not a women’s issue alone, it’s a men’s issue too’. The event was organised by Women Directors in Malta, an organisation that seeks to help women make the right connections to get to board level.
I know women who take off their wedding rings to ensure they are not treated as potential mums
Dr Cutajar – who is also the chair of the Consultative Council for Woman’s Rights within the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality – was sharing insights from her current project that involves an audit of political parties.
“If parties don’t change, we won’t have change. It’s the party, the leaders, that push candidates. When we speak about quotas for women, people say it’s not meritocratic. We are saying: push the best men and women forward. With too many men the talent pool is affected,” she said stressing that this applied to all minority group representations. The result of this misrepresentation, she cautioned, was alienating voters.
Just 10 out of Malta’s 67 MPs are women, making the country an EU laggard when it comes to gender parity in political participation. In March, the government unveiled plans to increase women’s participation in politics. Rather than direct gender quotas, the government is proposing to raise the number of MPs by up to 12 more seats to ensure gender parity. The proposed measure is gender-neutral and applicable to any gender with less than 40 per cent representation.
Transparent selection criteria
Dr Cutajar elaborated that, as research showed, men start out at an advantage in politics: They benefit from the assumption that they are competent because they are men, criteria for access are based on previous male role models, and their traits and qualifications are seldom subject to close scrutiny.
“We need transparent, objective criteria that constitute good representation,” she said. At the moment, when selecting candidates, political parties are more interested in how much time the candidate has, how much money they have to run a campaign, their charisma, ability to woo the crowd and party loyalty. The qualities of a good politician should include intelligence, honesty, keeping promises, compassion, integrity, confidence and adaptability.
However, she said, the reality is that women are questioned on a lot of things men are not: When they have children, what they wear, and so much more.
“Women still face different questions in the interview room. They are still asked about their potential procreative side. I know women who take off their wedding rings to ensure they are not treated as potential mums,” she said prompting a comment from a woman in the room who said she was once asked: “But now that you are responsible for another human being, how do you expect to cope with this role?”
Representatives of the community
The figures, she added, show there are more women in local councils (22 per cent) than serving as MPs (13.1 per cent) and ministers (10.1 per cent). These women are living in the grass roots and have a lot to offer.
“We need the input of women because they have another stand on health, economy and many issues. They are often part of the grass roots and the community – these are the people we want in Parliament. Politicians need to be representatives of the different groups in society,” she stressed.
Also speaking at the event, journalist Josanne Cassar said she was concerned that quotas on women would not work without “a huge support structure”. The reality is that women still take on the bulk of the child caring role and, juggling this with their job and a political career may not seem worth it without the right support.
“The government talks about having more women, but what is stopping it from putting more women on boards?” she said.
Silvan Agius, director of Human Rights and Integration Directorate within the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality, said the government was working on a strategy and the next step would be to transpose it into every government ministry and directorate.
“The only way forward is adopting a systematic approach and having the same rules apply across the government. This needs to become something obligatory,” he said.