Members of parliament passed the second reading on the government's bill to introduce femicide into the criminal code, on Wednesday.

The bill, tabled in February before parliament was dissolved prior to the March general election, was tabled again this week by new Justice Minister Jonathan Attard. 

It lays out circumstances when a homicide, or attempted murder, is deemed to have been committed because of a woman or girl's gender. 

Although the Nationalist Party is supporting the bill, several MPs who spoke in Parliament asked what would happen if the aggressor was a woman. 

Under the proposed amendments, when a man is convicted of wilful homicide against a woman, the court must consider whether hatred towards women was a motivating factor and if so, mete out the harshest possible penalty merited.  

Additionally, "crime of passion" will no longer be a permissible defence when a man commits violence against a woman.

PN MP Karol Aquilina said the PN believed there are ways and means in which the Bill can be improved to prevent discrimination.

His comments were echoed by PN MP Joe Giglio, who said the new law must be amended so as not to give the bill an "expiry date".

"If someone challenges the law in court, the law might not stand the test of time," he said.

He was one of a number of lawyers who first flagged how the proposed femicide laws are discriminatory.

In his closing remarks, Attard said reports and data show that cases of women killing other women for passionate reasons were rare.

The bill follows the murder of Pauline Dembska, a young Polish woman raped and murdered at the Sliema Independence Gardens on January 2.

The committee stage of the bill will now be debated by the committee for the consideration of bills.