Less women candidates elected than last legislature, despite push for more gender equality in parliament
Only seven women candidates have been elected in last Saturday’s general election, two less than the last legislature, amplifying Malta’s rank as the lowest for female representation out of all the European Union member states.
67 candidates will be elected into Parliament in total, meaning that only 10% of Parliament will be female.
Justyne Caruana, Helena Dalli and Julia Farrugia Portelli were the women Labour Party candidates elected, whilst Marthese Portelli, Claudette Buttigieg and Kristy Debono were elected as Nationalist Party candidates. Marlene Farrugia, leader of Partit Demokratiku was also elected.
Nationalist Party candidate Therese Comodini Cachia was also voted into Parliament, however later stepped away from the post, choosing to remain working as an MEP in Brussels.
Mrs Debono was the only female candidate from all parties to get elected on the first count, and the second female PN candidate to have gotten elected on first count basis, except for ex Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono. Mrs Debono is also the second candidate to get elected with a quota on the challenging 9th district, after ex Minister Joe Borg in 2003.
This low number of female candidates comes months after more awareness raised for gender equality in parliament, a few months prior to the election. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, in the run up towards the election, said that he would support the introduction of gender quotas in parliament, referring to the work done on womens’ rights in his legislature as “the most feminist government in history”.
Of the 70 Labour Party candidates who contested the upcoming general election, 11 were female (16%), while 24 out of the 102 candidates fielded by the Nationalist Party were female (24%), and 4 out of the 11 Democratic Party candidates (36%) were female. One Alternattiva Demokratika candidate was female (10%), whilst there were 3 female Patrijotti candidates out of 15 (20%).
Prior to the general elections, The Malta Independent had contacted various academics and activists regarding the number of women candidates in parliament. Academic Dr Marie Briguglio had said that women in parliament are needed “not just for gender issues, but for agenda items that suffer when representation is skewed.”
Academic and activist Dr Andrea Dibben had said that the number of female candidates is “unacceptable, and it is a clear sign that political parties have not given gender parity enough prominence.”
Mrs Renee Laiviera, Commissioner for the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality had said, “a pro-active effort by political parties to break gender stereotypes and promote a balanced female participation in the party structures at all levels, as well as more family-friendly arrangements and support structures within parties, is essential to improve participation of the under-represented sex.”