Women’s absence from top positions is cause for alarm – President

Women’s absence from leadership positions and the implications of economic discrimination is cause for alarm, according to President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. “We cannot allow women’s perspectives to be absent from policymaking and decision-taking processes,” she warned yesterday, on the eve of International Women’s Day.

The President took the opportunity to appeal to all the political parties in Malta, to encourage more women to take part in the country’s political and public life by exploring innovative ways.

The United Nations 2030 Agenda stresses the need for gender equality, particularly in Sustainable Development Goal 5. This calls for everyone around the world to work together, empowering women and girls, and ensuring they had the full and effective participation at all levels of decision-making across political, economic, and public life.

However, according to the latest UN data, female representation in global government stood at 23%. In Malta, the percentage of female MPs is less than 13%.

President Coleiro Preca said the latest European Gender Equality Index rated Malta at 29.4% when it came to Maltese women’s political participation, when the EU average stood at 49.8%.

“The nations of the world have committed themselves to raise the percentage of women in global government to 50% by 2030. We definitely need to invest more of our energies and resources into making this target a reality.”

Closing a conference, titled ‘Women in Politics and Leadership’, organised by the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, Mrs Coleiro Preca encouraged decision-makers to be bold and to work together to develop innovative and further inclusive strategies for the future.

The President highlighted the dire situation where just 2.7% of women were represented on the boards of the largest publicly listed companies in Malta, and for every woman who either held the position of director or CEO, there were four men occupying such a role.