This government, more than any of its predecessors, has made it possible for each individual to assert full sovereignty on one’s own affairs regardless of the gender, creed, ethnicity, sexual orientation or other ‘group’ one happens to be born into.
As Maltese citizens, we have the inalienable right to live our lives as we see fit, worship any god, pursue any career and delight in any hobby. Our congenital characteristics are not allowed to define us or set us on a particular path in life anymore because each of us is sovereign, singular, unique and full of potential.
How strange it is, then, that the government is suddenly steering Malta towards a sectarian gender philosophy in which ‘Mary’ and ‘Jane’ are defined by their ‘natural clan’ (womanhood, in this case) rather than by their individuality.
According to this philosophy (‘Move to get more women in the House’, March 27), ‘George’ and ‘James’ cannot adequately represent ‘Mary’ and ‘Jane’ (and vice versa) because they are members of a different ‘natural clan’ (manhood) and not singular individuals with unique merits, politics and ideas and whose gender is a personal matter.
Taken to its logical conclusion, the concept of an ‘under-represented sex’ should not only lead to additional members of Parliament but also to two prime ministers (one of each gender), two presidents, two finance ministers and so on, so that every gender is fully represented in every sector. Except we don’t need that because a competent person of any gender can represent the rest of us just fine.
The concept of the ‘under-represented sex’ is fundamentally flawed because MPs are not elected to represent their sex but to represent their constituents. By definition, if the people have voted for their representatives, they then cannot say they are under-represented.
For the record, in the upcoming European Parliament elections, I plan to vote for Democratic Party candidate Camilla Appelgren. I will vote for her because she is smart, has European values, loves Malta and is a true champion of the environment. It is these things that matter not our congenital biological characteristics.