As the second wave of feminism was crashing across borders in Europe and the US during the 1970s, Pauline Miceli took over ‘woman’s hour’ on the radio – and shocked an audience used to popular recipes, fashion and family advice.

At a time when Maltese women were still very constrained by a society and legal code that kept them servile to their families, Miceli spoke about women’s emancipation, financial independence, family planning, sexuality and women’s bodies.

The previous host was Carmen Carbonaro, a devout Catholic who started the daily woman’s programme with a prayer and centred it around family rearing and domestic duties.

Miceli immediately broke with that, choosing instead to discuss themes revolving around the women’s movement.

“I got a lot of flak from the Broadcasting Authority but I couldn’t water down what I believed in so I kept dishing out information on what was going on abroad, trying to get women to think about their condition,” Miceli, who is now Commissioner for Children, recalled as the world celebrates International Women’s Day.

“We used to discuss a lot of topics, but how economic independence helps you to be emancipated was the message throughout.

“Women in Malta were invisible at the time and I really saw this as an opportunity to give them a voice and express my views as a woman.”

Looking back now, Miceli could see how bold it was to talk about economic independence to housewives who had to “resign themselves to the family and to belonging to their husband”.

Almost immediately, she fell out with the head of the Cana Movement, a regular contributor on Carbonaro’s programme, who would routinely talk at women, she said.

“I asked him to open his views to women’s feedback. But he didn’t like it and he dropped out,” Miceli said.

Awareness raising was the main rallying call

Criticism also came in from those who saw the questioning of women’s traditional role as undermining the family unit.

Miceli was labelled ‘a man hater’ and ‘pariah’. But over time it became evident that the programme made great inroads into the way people thought about the issues.

“I get women who are much younger than me tell me that they used to listen to the show and it filled them with enthusiasm.

“Years later, one man from the broadcasting authority even admitted that the show had shocked ‘them’ into reality because they were not aware of how women in the country were feeling and what was happening abroad,” she said.

Miceli went on to form part of a women’s pressure group called Min-Naħa tan-Nisa, which campaigned on women’s rights in the 1980s. Other members included Paola Vietri, Renee Laviera, Mary Darmanin and Lorraine Spiteri.

The small group of well-read graduates lobbied for access to childcare, family planning, equal pay, divorce and against all kinds of gender discrimination and sexism.

“Awareness raising was the main rallying call of the group,” said Miceli.

“However, one of our greatest challenges was family law.”

Legally-married women had no right over the finances in a household, nor authority over the children, and the group lobbied for a radical change in legislation.

“Separated women were coming to us after losing everything. A few approaching their old age were scared they would be left penniless. That was one point that really motivated us to try to change the law to put pressure on government,” she said.

After heated debates in the 1980s, it was only in 1993 that the amendments were enacted, marking a turning point for the feminist movement in Malta.

The new law put women on an equal footing in some aspects of marriage. Husband and wife now shared custody over children, administration of property and other family matters.

Miceli’s career is also a story of perseverance in view of the constraints at the time.

“Growing up I struggled because at school they were telling us you can become a doctor, an astronaut... you can become whatever you want.

“But in actual fact there were very few options and even then you had to resign on marriage. I had to resign as a teacher when I got married,” Miceli recalled.

“I got my lucky break when I stumbled into radio. Even though I was paid the equivalent of €8 for the each programme, I was there at the right time and I loved those years.”

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