Updated 11.30am, adds NCPE statement
Women elected to parliament through quotas would undermine genuine efforts to ensure representation by facilitating the perception that female politicians are in need of help to get elected, the Kunsill Nazzjonali Żgħażagħ said.
In a statement on Tuesday, reacting to Parliament’s second reading of the gender quota bill, which proposes that parliament can be enlarged by up to 12 seats to ensure a better gender balance, KNŻ said that while it realised the importance of having more women in parliament, gender quotas will not be enough to overcome institutionalised discrimination that prevents a representative parliament.
Moreover, a proposal focusing on a binary system undermines the improvement in previous laws to recognise other genders.
Local female political talent has made waves in European institutions, proving that such politicians are not in need of mechanisms which, while potentially helpful in increasing statistical representation in the short term, will damage the credibility of those elected in the long term, it noted.
Getting a seat through quotas will, by default, be a principal argument/attack by the media and the public towards the women in question, risking that women will be discouraged from contesting due to the lack of merit associated with the role or causing excess pressure on those who contest to prove they are deserving of their position.
Positive discrimination is still discrimination, it said.
“While giving a seat to women on the premise of their gender may diminish the gap in numbers, this will not do much to change the mentality of the voter and encourage them to focus on the competence of candidates when casting the vote, rather than their gender.
“Efforts to increase diverse representation in Parliament should focus on encouraging more people to contest elections and improving civic education on how voters should select their preferred candidates,” KNŻ said.
NCPE welcomes amenmdents
The amendments were later welcomed by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) which described the move as “a historical development”.
The proposal, it said, aimed to address the current “democratic deficit” due to the severe and persistent underrepresentation of women in the political sphere.
For decades, Malta consistently lagged behind other countries when it came to gender balance in Parliament as evidenced by the European Institute for Gender Equality’s 2020 Gender Equality Index and the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report. The latest 2020 data show that women’s representation in the Maltese Parliament stood at a mere 13.4% compared to the European (EU 28) average of 32.8%, it pointed out.
Positive measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between women and men are already enshrined the Constitution which “provides for the taking of special measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women, and in so far only as such measures, taking into account the social fabric of Malta, are shown to be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society”, the commission said.
It said these were “clearly necessary” to break the status quo and address gender inequalities stemming from historical and structural barriers experienced by women in society.
“The implementation of the proposed measures will be instrumental towards the strengthening of a democratic society with the equal participation of women and men in the highest national decision-making institution.”
The NCPE said it looked forward to see this initiative become reality for the well-being of Maltese society.