Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1088108
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 MARCH 2019 INTERVIEW The Labour Party prides itself on being historically at the forefront of women's issues, and has now pledged to carry on this tradition by boosting female representation, in Parliament and elsewhere. Is PL's boast justified, in your view? And how much of this drive is indeed a reflection of avant-gardism on Labour's part… and how much of it simply because the country has always been so very backwards when it comes to women's rights? I find it quite sad, in a way, be- cause – despite all the changes that were brought about back then: the right to vote in 1945, the first female elected MP, two female Presidents, Aga- tha Barbara addressing mass meetings on the same podium as Mintoff, etc. – we're still not all that far away, all these years later. But yes, I think it is true that Labour has always been at the forefront of women's issues: even if the issues themselves haven't progressed as much as we'd like. Why? The simplest reason is that women make up 50% of the population. We're half the social fabric… yet we're not represented enough, in any public forum: whether it's politics, business, industry... even education. Ironically, we see more women than men graduating from the university, but then, they get lost in the workplace. There have been improvements: free childcare has helped a lot, as did other tiny things that make a practi- cal difference – co-education, for instance. I went to a co-ed school, 15 years ago. Now we're seeing this happen in govern- ment schools as well. When I look back, I remember guys just as much as girls at my school… obviously that gives you con- fidence to deal with guys and girls in exactly the same way. It doesn't make any difference at all, to me. But to the guys who went to an all-boys school, for instance, it might make a differ- ence… On behalf of an earlier, pre-coed generation, I can confirm that, yes, that's probably true. But while it might explain the historical imbalance, it doesn't address the situation today. Why are things changing so slowly? I think we will see the fruit of co-education in years to come. In some respects, we're already seeing it. My own experience in politics, for example: when I started out in 2007, I was the only girl, in a group of only guys, for about six years. Also, on my first board appoint- ment, in 2013, all the other board members were men. I was the only woman. Things have changed since then; but still, we're lagging far behind. Something needs to be done. What and how is debatable, but something definitely needs to be done. It is evident that we are stuck here; and nothing seems to be moving… espe- cially in female political rep- resentation. But in so many other areas too. Ideally, I'd like to live in an age – and rightly so, I would think – when we don't celebrate 'Women's Day', when we don't even have 'Nisa Laburisti'… where we don't talk about these things, because we don't need to anymore. The reality, however, is different. In reality, women haven't been assimilated in all the structures; whether it's in politics, profes- sion, or even activism. At least, not at national level. There has been progress – not enough, perhaps – at party-level… There is however, a difference between a party and national level… Yes. Parties can regulate their own internal structures however they like. But – to put it bluntly – if the electorate (however wrongly) keeps electing men, should the answer be to 'distort' the result to increase women representatives anyway? To be fair, I was elected to the Labour executive with a quota, in 2008. It was the last time the quota was used. I feel it's some- thing I have to specify, before answering the question. First of all, we're not trying to create something new [by proposing gender quotas for Parliament]. There are loads of other coun- tries with a similar system in place: in Scandinavia, for in- stance. But this is also about assuring people that… nothing will go wrong. It's not scary. It's actually better. A lot better. We see this in boards and com- mittees where there is already equal representation. It is a sta- tistical fact that they perform better…. Out of curiosity – not a question I planned to ask – but how do you account for that yourself? There are probably lots of different reasons: whether it's genes, or characteristics... women are generally more cau- tious; though sometimes, you need to take fast decisions. So the balance works out better. NIKITA ZAMMIT ALAMANGO, chairperson of the Labour Party's 'Nisa Laburisti', on why 'equality' is about more than just gender quotas, female representation in Parliament, or even just about women and men It all boils down to stereotypes… In reality, though women fought so hard just to get into the workforce… we're doing double the work Raphael Vassallo Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt